On the eve of the 39e edition of the European Heritage Days, scheduled for the weekend of September 17 and 18, Emmanuel Macron promised on Friday that the Heritage Loto, launched in 2018 as part of the heritage mission, intended to restore heritage assets in danger, would continue for the next five years.
” It will last [encore] at least five years (…). I hope this decade will have made it irreversible.”he said during a trip to Guéret (Creuse), where he was accompanied by his wife, Brigitte Macron, the Minister of Culture, Rima Abdul Malak, and the host Stéphane Bern, responsible for the Heritage Mission.
To “reconnect” our towns and villages “with their history”
According to Emmanuel Macron, “this heritage policy is important, because it allows our towns and villages to reconnect with their history”, as evidenced by the city theater he visited.
Plunged into darkness for forty years, the latter will benefit from aid of 500,000 euros from the Heritage Loto for its restoration and reopening. Built in 1837, the Italian theater was used as a cantonment for soldiers during the First World War, then transformed into a cinema from 1932 until its closure in 1983.
“We have young people of all ages who will be able to reclaim this place, artisans, artists who will be able to work”, welcomed Mr. Macron. In particular, he attended a short performance of Hamlet performed by final year students from the city’s high school.
Two hundred million euros collected and 745 sites saved since 2018
In four years, the Heritage Loto has raised 200 million euros and saved 745 sites in danger since the first draw, which took place in September 2018, said the Head of State. According to him, heritage “it’s pride, it’s projects, it’s the life of our territories, and then it’s beauty. We need it to give meaning to life”.
After visiting the Italian-style theater in Guéret, the presidential couple went to Aubusson (Creuse), stronghold of French tapestry, where they attended a “fall from profession” – symbolic moment during which the threads are cut and the tapestry, unveiled – of Conversation With Smaugan 8 m tapestry2 inspired by the work of British writer JRR Tolkien. The work required nine hundred hours of work from February to August.
“There are professions that are part of our history. It is an immense French treasure” that must be preserved, argued the President of the Republic, regretting that the “handicrafts” sometimes be “neglected” while these are “fundamental trades, where there are job prospects”.
