Yesterday, at the Palace of the Kings of Sardinia, the Alpes-Maritimes department hosted the New Year’s ceremony of the Cercle Bréa.
The Cercle Bréa is an association that was established in September 2000. It aims to promote heritage and sacred art primarily from the Alpes-Maritimes. It organizes events throughout the year, including in schools to raise awareness among young people about religious heritage.
Yesterday, at the Palace of the Kings of Sardinia of the Prefecture, the Departmental Council of Alpes-Maritimes hosted the New Year’s ceremony of the Cercle Bréa, in the presence of Gaëlle Frontini, Vice-President of the Departmental Council in charge of memory and cultural heritage, Auguste Vérola, Vice-President of the Departmental Council in charge of childhood and culture, and Maître François Dunan, President of the Cercle Bréa. To everyone’s surprise, the department and the Cercle Bréa invited Julien Lepers, a media host known for his commitment to heritage preservation, to the ceremony.
The department has supported the actions undertaken by the Cercle Bréa since its establishment over 24 years ago. This support is financial, but above all, a loyal partnership accompanying and initiating actions.
The actions of the Cercle Bréa and the department in the Alpes-Maritimes
In the Alpes-Maritimes, many projects have been established for the protection of this heritage, including the financing of renovation work of the Sainte-Réparate Cathedral and the churches of Saint-Joseph and Saint-Joanne of Arc, as well as the restoration of many buildings in the department. The restoration also includes the artworks they house. With a budget exceeding 8 million euros, according to the will of Éric Ciotti and Charles Ange Ginesy, the department finances sacred art and preservation.
This policy promotes cultural tourism along the coast. The Cercle Bréa primarily wishes to carry out extensive conservation work. The Cercle Bréa aspires to create an exhibition space or a departmental museum of sacred art dedicated to preserving and showcasing religious heritage. In partnership with interested municipalities, they form the wish for a potential collaboration with the artistic chapels movement in the department for their preservation.
It should be noted that the city of Nice alone has 111 places of worship, spanning all denominations. 51 chapels in the Alpes-Maritimes are classified by the French Heritage Museum and therefore benefit from subsidies that help in their maintenance and restoration.
At the National Level, France begins to care about religious heritage
With 42,000 Catholic churches and 50,000 places of worship across denominations, since the 1905 law separating church and state, 90% of this heritage belongs to communities lacking the necessary resources to maintain them independently. According to the Religious Heritage Report, 3,000 buildings are at risk of ruin.
For those less fortunate who do not benefit from this distinction, some dioceses do not hesitate to solicit donations from parishioners and also from patronages. Some elected officials also get involved, such as a few years ago for the preservation of the church in the small village of Marie, where all women named Marie (from France and Navarre) were invited by the village Mayor to participate in the restoration of the building which was at risk of falling into ruin. This national and international initiative was crowned with success as the “Maries” responded to the call!
During the year 2023, the government has become aware of the importance of preserving this heritage and is attempting to save it through several initiatives, such as launching a subscription of 200 million euros over four years for religious heritage in small communities, along with the heritage lottery in 2018.