The Heritage Foundation unveiled on Monday the list of one hundred new departmental sites selected for the ninth edition of the Heritage Lottery, a scheme launched in 2018 by Stéphane Bern to finance the restoration of threatened monuments across France.
One site per department, from religious heritage to former factories
These 100 winners, selected one per department except for Mayotte, complement the 18 flagship projects already unveiled last April. Religious heritage represents more than a third of the sites selected this year, such as the Saint-Martin church in Pont-sur-Seine in the Aube department or the Notre-Dame du Salut chapel in Fécamp, in Seine-Maritime, but the scheme also finances the restoration of castles, gardens, houses or former industrial sites, such as the Couëron shot tower, in Loire-Atlantique.
In the Gard, the Thurroye palace in Villeneuve-lès-Avignon was chosen, a building constructed around 1344 and now in a worrying state, with degraded floors, a missing main beam and an attack by wood-boring insects, despite its rich past having hosted illustrious guests such as Pope Clement VII.
Over a thousand sites already supported since 2018
Stéphane Bern himself launched the 2026 edition by visiting the bar-tabac in Thiron-Gardais, where he scratched the very first lottery ticket and revealed the site selected for the Eure-et-Loir department. Since its inception, the Heritage Lottery has supported the restoration of more than 1,080 sites across the country, over 70% of which have already been saved or are on the verge of being so, with 281 projects currently underway and 514 completed. The precise amount of aid granted to each of the one hundred new winners of this 2026 edition will be announced by the Heritage Foundation by the end of the year.
Community
Comments
Write a comment
Be the first to comment on this article.