On the occasion of the 2024 edition of the Grand Loto du Patrimoine, a site in the North and one in Pas-de-Calais have been selected to benefit from the financial spin-offs of the Mission du Patrimoine games. Thanks to this money, these places will be able to begin renovations.
The Heritage Mission, led by Stéphane Bern, revealed on Monday September 2 the 100 places that will benefit from the income of the Heritage Lottery for their renovations. Among the winners are five sites in Hauts-de-France, including one located in Pas-de-Calais and one in the North.
Launched in 2018 by Emmanuel Macron, the Heritage Mission aims to preserve or rehabilitate monuments in danger. Each year, it partners with the Française des Jeux for an operation involving scratch cards worth 15 euros.
“The amount of the levy on bets normally going to the State, i.e. €1.83 per ticket purchased, will be paid to the Heritage Foundation,” the mission indicates in a press release.
Preserving mining heritage
In the North, the Anhiers pit, located between Lallaing and Flines-lez-Râches, is one of the lucky ones chosen for this 2024 edition. This vestige of the department’s mining past was built between 1898 and 1900. Its impressive pithead – all the surface installations necessary for the operation of a mine – survived the First World War and was active until 1950.
“It is one of the four concrete headframes remaining to this day in France and has the particularity of being accompanied by its extraction building,” indicates the Heritage Mission.
With the winnings collected through the heritage lottery, this historic site will be rehabilitated and then transformed into nine medical and paramedical offices connected to several spaces, including a gym, a technical platform, an architecture workshop, co-working spaces focused on artistic crafts as well as a carpentry and metalwork design workshop.
Reopening a centuries-old church
The church of Saint-Sauveur de Desvres, in Pas-de-Calais, was also selected among the 100 winners of the 2024 heritage lottery. The building with its very old foundations has been closed to the public since 2019 for security reasons.
“Humidity-related problems appeared in the church and led to the building being closed to the public: cracks in the arches and vaults, falling plaster decorative elements, collapse in April 2019 of a portion of the vault of the north aisle,” writes the Heritage Mission.
Over time, the building has had an eventful existence. “Destroyed in 1597 by the Spanish, then rebuilt at the beginning of the 17th century, it was once again in ruins in 1772 and restored at the beginning of the 19th century, particularly between 1875 and 1896, to take on its current appearance,” relates the Mission.
In 1997, the town of Desvres was awarded the “town and crafts” label for its expertise in porcelain. The interior decoration of Saint-Sauveur is a perfect showcase of the locality’s know-how in this art. Ornaments that the population is deprived of due to the building being closed to the public.
With the proceeds from the heritage, work will be undertaken in the church in order to reopen its doors to visitors. The renovations are estimated at 690,344 euros.
The financial impact of the Mission Patrimoine games, led by Stéphane Bern, for the religious building should be known by the end of 2024, after the sale of tickets offered by the FDJ.
