Writer Ken Follett donates 148,000 euros for the restoration of a church in France

Welsh writer Ken Follett, author of best-selling novels such as The Pillars of the Earth and The Eye of the Needle (among the best-selling books of all time), has donated 148,000 euros to the Fondation du Patrimoine (a kind of French counterpart of our FAI), which the foundation has earmarked for the restoration of Saint-Samson Cathedral in Dol-de-Bretagne, a town of five thousand inhabitants in Brittany. The sum that the British author donated to the foundation comes from the proceeds of an 80-page book, published by the Robert Laffont publishing house, dedicated to Notre-Dame and written in the aftermath of the terrible fire on April 15, 2019, which greatly touched the writer: the volume sold 115 thousand copies, and Follett decided to donate all of his royalty income to the Fondation du Patrimoine.

The cathedral in the fortified town of Dol-de-Bretagne has very ancient origins, but a fire destroyed it in 1203, reasoning that it was rebuilt in its present form between 1250 and 1300. It is one of the most beautiful Gothic churches in northern France and suffers from deterioration problems that mainly affect the 13th-century stained glass windows (the oldest in Brittany) and the roof, which suffers from structural problems: the coffers of the small French municipality are having difficulty in meeting the large expenses involved in restoration. The construction site, moreover, started in the summer of 2019 with the securing of the building, and the funds come partly from the municipality, partly from the Brittany Directorate of Culture (these are state funds), and partly from the Brittany Region. The total cost of the operation amounts to 2.4 million euros (of which 800 thousand provided by the municipality), and the funding secured by Ken Follett will allow the work to proceed more quickly. Work is scheduled to be completed by 2024.

“This is a wonderful surprise,” said Xavier Coadic, Dol-de-Bretagne’s councillor for tourism, heritage and commerce. "A nice gift, especially thinking about the fact that it comes from the author of The Pillars of the Earth [the novel, set in the 12th century, is about the construction of a cathedral, ed.] Our cathedral is an icon of Brittany, and from its construction we learn about the evolution of Gothic. Its history also is equally important."

Photo: the cathedral at Dol-de-Bretagne. Ph. Erwan Corre

Writer Ken Follett donates 148,000 euros for the restoration of a church in France

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