€ 19.6 million. This is the sum that The Heritage Foundation has awarded in 2018 to the sites of French heritage in danger, building on the success of the operation conducted by Stéphane Bern. The sum is expected to be $ 21 million, the sale of the tickets scratch cards is being extended until mid-January. 270 restoration of monuments will be as well supported, including 18 monuments.

the 21 million plus 14 million euros allocated by the ministry of Culture, to offset the amount of taxes levied on the games. And the sponsorship collected by the mission in Bern represents over 5.5 million euros. Thus, 40 million euros that will be, in all, earmarked for the restoration of monuments in danger.

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“What a boost!”, enthuses Simone Rey, president of the association for the protection of the fort in the Twelfth century of Mareugheol, Puy-de-Dome. She received an envelope of 93.000 euros, or 40% of the required amount.

Some mayors or owners of the property have all the same faces in front of the sums received at the end of December. “I regret that I have based too much hope,” concedes Jeremy Loisel, the mayor, the breton Baussaine, in the Ile-et-Villaine. The latter has received 59.000€, while the complete renovation of the church of Saint-Léon, dating from the Fifteenth century, would require 400,000 euros.

Ditto for the castle of Pont-Remy, Picardie. The building in the Fifteenth century, damaged by fire in 2012, is in need of 100,000 euros. The Foundation has awarded 12.000. So far, Annie Roucoux, mayor of the city, don’t despair. “I try to be positive. It is necessary to take what we are given”, she says. And remember: “A subscription is opened on the site of the heritage Foundation. On account of all the world!”

The monuments have especially been helped that they did not enjoy protection. “The State already pays subsidies to both conventional and exceptional historical monuments,” says Célia Vérot, director general of the Heritage Foundation. “The monies from the lotto are supplements, and should act as a leverage,” she continued.

The small municipalities and the local heritage, which have small budgets, have also been preferred. In 2019, a new Lottery heritage should be launched, at the time of the heritage days, in September.