“A paying church is a museum”: the proposed price for entry to Notre-Dame de Paris criticized, but justified

The Minister of Culture, Rachida Dati, has proposed charging admission to the Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris, which will reopen its doors in December. A proposal that has not met with unanimous support.

The Notre-Dame Cathedral will reopen its doors on December 8 after more than five years of closure, caused by the fire that devastated the building in 2019. Reservations will be possible on the website to manage the flow of visitors. They should be open up to two days in advance for a fixed slot. If no reservation is made, you will have to queue. For masses, entry will be free, but within the limit of available places.

However, access to the cathedral was initially announced as remaining free, except for the visit to the Treasury, the museum located inside the building. The Minister of Culture, Rachida Dati, has just proposed charging tourists to enter. In her interview with Le Figaro,, she assures that charging 5 euros to visit the cathedral is a good idea and will allow to collect “75 million euros per year”. This money would be reinvested in the religious heritage of the country: “Thus, Notre-Dame de Paris would save all the churches of Paris and France. It would be a magnificent symbol”, she justified. This rate will not concern the practicing attendees of masses or offices, but will be imposed “nbsp;only for cultural visits.

The minister was keen to point out that in Europe, access to the “most remarkable religious buildings” was often subject to a fee. In Italy, Great Britain and Spain, for example, this is indeed the case. To access the Duomo in Milan, the Medici Chapel in Florence, the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona or Westminster Abbey in London, you have to buy a ticket. In France, the 45,000 Catholic churches have free access, except for the Basilica of Saint-Denis, considered a historical site with the tombs of the kings of France.

A denaturation of the religious building ?

This measure received the support of the Minister of the Interior, but also charged of worship, Bruno Retailleau, who provided, on France Inter, that it is useful especially if it can help to "save a religious heritage to which we can be attached, whether we believe in heaven or not, because quite simply, it is the French landscape". Emmanuel Macron had recalled in September 2023 that 5,000 religious buildings were in a state that could endanger their sustainability. and therefore needed intervention.

However, this proposal is problematic. First, from a legislative point of view, the 1905 law on the separation of Church and State guarantees that visits to churches and cathedrals that are classified as historic monuments, such as Notre-Dame, “may not” no tax, no fee".

For some, charging for entry also distorts religious heritage. For Alexandre Gady, a heritage historian and member of the National Commission for Architecture and Heritage, on franceinfo, this decision would be a  "philosophical rupture", which will against the “cultural democratization”, defended by the Ministry of Culture since its creation. According to the historian, taking this step would be like turning a church into a “museum”, especially since museums themselves are sometimes free.  & … He points out that making entry chargeable will also lead to a new set-up with the installation of cash desks and staff who check tickets, which according to him “is an idea that is far from heritage”.