Jeanne Barseghian promises this Sunday, October 20 that the municipality will “remediate this technical incident as quickly as possible to restore the usual illumination of the cathedral” after 11 p.m.
The controversy began to swell in Strasbourg, Jeanne Barseghian decided to react. This Sunday, October 20, the mayor of the Alsatian capital spoke on X to respond to concerns regarding the illumination of Notre-Dame Cathedral.
It has been several weeks since the building was no longer lit at 11 p.m. This earned the municipality a torrent of criticism from political opponents and residents of Strasbourg.
Depicting the cathedral as “the emblematic monument” of the city, “to which the people of Strasbourg, and beyond, are particularly attached”, Jeanne Barseghian says she understands the bitterness of lovers of the building.
“What should not happen”
“The cathedral’s lighting times inevitably provoke reactions, especially when it is shown in total darkness from 11 p.m., which should not happen,” underlines the environmentalist councilor.
Jeanne Barseghian promises that the municipality will “remediate this technical incident as quickly as possible to restore the usual illumination of the cathedral, as defined since the summer of 2022”.
While her municipal team is accused of having cut off the illumination of the cathedral for ecological and energy reasons, the mayor of Strasbourg counterattacks on Instagram.
“The strategy of sobriety and energy transformation of the city of Strasbourg, communicated during the municipal council of September 26, 2022, specified the following orientation: ‘Reduction of lighting in public buildings: extinction of all monuments (at exception of the cathedral) from 11 p.m. at the beginning of October'”, recalls the elected official.
The skeptical opposition
His explanations have not fully convinced his detractors and political opponents. Still on social networks, Jean-Philippe Vetter, elected Les Républicains in the city and in the Eurometropolis, was certainly satisfied with a “collective victory”, but took the opportunity to slip a tackle on the majority.
“Jeanne Barseghian will remedy what she modestly calls a ‘technical incident’… In politics, we have the right to make mistakes, but not to evade our own responsibilities,” he wrote.
Pernelle Richardot, elected socialist in the city of Strasbourg, was also concerned about the interruption of the illumination of the cathedral, believing that this only resulted in marginal savings, and had even considered an appeal for donations to finance lighting.
“Ms. Mayor, accept the shutdown instructions given to the services,” she says, specifying that “there is also the press declaration in the DNA of [son] deputy” on this subject. Pierre Ozenne actually indicated in an interview with our colleagues DNA Thursday evening that the cathedral was one of the monuments turned off at 11 p.m. for reasons of energy saving.
If the illuminations will probably make their return this Sunday evening on the most famous building in Strasbourg, the controversy has perhaps not quite finished shaking up the Alsatian microcosm.
Florian Bouhot Journalist BFM Régions
