After a devastating fire, Notre Dame is finally reopening to visitors this year, but with changes that are dividing the French government and church.
To be specific, French Culture Minister, Rachida Dati, is suggesting that visitors should pay a $5.30 fee (€5) once the newly-renovated heritage returns to public.
According to The Art Newspaper, Dati believes this could generate $81 million (€75 million) annually that can support all churches in France and Paris, especially that there's an estimated of 15 million visitors in 2025. This is more than the 12-14 million who visited Notre Dame before the fire in April 2019. Home Minister Bruno Retailleau is also supporting the idea.
Visitors sit on a stand in front of Notre-Dame de Paris Cathedral in Paris on October 25, 2024, which is due to reopen to the public on December 8, 2024. French ministers have raised the idea of charging tourists to enter Paris' world-famous Notre-Dame cathedral when it opens in December 2024 after a five-year restoration due to its partial destruction when a fire broke out in 2019, a proposal that drew a rebuke from the city's diocese on October 24, 2024.
GREGOIRE CAMPIONE/AFP via Getty Images
Church Reacts on Proposed Entrance Fee for Notre Dame
French people are mixed with the proposed entrance fee and experts believe this can raise legal concerns since the 1905 law says that churches remain free and open, and far from the state's reach.
Paris diocese and the Catholic Church reacted negatively on the proposal, arguing that it will undermine the experience that defines the church's mission. Architecture historians also criticized Dati's proposed fee, since it can also compromise the principle of cultural democratization among tourists.
Art dealers, on the other hand, are favoring Dati's idea, suggesting that fees can help fund church reservations that other European locations are currently experiencing.
Currently, My Private Paris learned that France is maintaining 40,000 churches with over 1,300 at risk and 5,000 in poor condition. Finding sustainable methods is the only way to face these challenges for a long time. Historians instead recommend an increase in tourist tax for hotel stays, with the additional revenue allocated to preserve cultural heritage.
