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As of today, the site can be used such as it is but maintenance of the grounds is all the same necessary for the organization of cultural events.
With the passing of year, the church aspires to become a place of cultural diversity, i.e. a genuine living window of the heritage past and present. It would thus become a theater for demonstrations, expositions, concerts (the church benefits from good accoustics), and spectacles. Masses could be held there.
The first work completed
When the association first took over the old church, there were a certain number of urgent tasks to accomplish. It was initially necessary to relieve the perimeter of the church of ivy which had climbed and attacked the walls, and remove brambles, blackthorns, and elder trees which made access to the church difficult. About fifty pupils of the Ecole d'application du train (of Tours), with all necessary logistics, cleared everything that encumbered the accesses of Notre Dame de Rigny.
Unfortunately for this superb building, earth washed by the rains had come to accumulate against the southern walls, where it degraded the facings of the foundations and held dangerous moisture levels. The pressure of the vaults on the walls of the nave had caused their displacement and their cracking. To avoid the collapse of the vaults it was urgent to support them. The support of the vaults of the nave, remarkable work carried out by companions carpenters made it possible to support the structure. But it will be necessary to dissasemble and re-raise the vaults as soon as the appropriations are set up (to do the first work, it was necessary to wait 23 years to obtain the first rescue financings.)
Then, the first work of restoration had two principal objectives: consolidation of the building in particular by the revision of the roofs, the resumption of the foundations of the walls, and the reinforcement of the buttresses.
The following table attempts to recapitulate the entirety of the work undertaken since the association became owner of the church.
Date |
Nature of the Work Done |
Costs |
Partners/
f i n a n c i e r s |
|
Clearing of undergrowth on the grounds around the monument |
|
|
1983 |
Propping of the vaults of the nave
(still in place) |
97567,37€ T.T.C.
(640 000F) |
|
1986 |
Restoration of the roof
(bell-tower,…) |
6815,23€ T.T.C.
(44 705 F) |
-association protection
monuments historiques:
35000F |
1987 |
Reinforcement of the buttress on
road |
3088,46€ T.T.C.
(20 259 F) |
|
1989 |
Restoration of the murals of the
choir |
6806,85€ T.T.C.
(44 650F) |
-APMH:16000F |
1991 |
Sealing the openings for
protection of the murals and
archaeological deposits of parts. |
|
|
1993 |
Consolidation at the base of the walls of the
choir (masonry work) |
|
|
1993 |
Reinforcement of the Northern buttress |
3913,21€ T.T.C.
(25 669 F) |
-APMH:25000F |
1994 |
Reinforcement of the South-Western buttress |
8308,47€ T.T.C.
(54 500 F) |
-DRAC:
27200F |
1994 |
Checking of the wood of sealing
retiming of the clotheshangers |
809,96€ T.T.C.
(5 313 F) |
|
1995 |
Preliminary study of Mr. de Saint Jouan |
11433,68€ T.T.C.
(75 000 F) |
-APMH:30000F |
1997 |
Fill of interior excavation
and reinstallation of the old pavement for the confortation
pillars |
5793,06€ T.T.C.
(38 000 F) |
-Conseil
Général |
1999 |
Fill of the external excavations |
3796,44€ T.T.C.
(24 903 F) |
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Future work
After all these operations, these items remain to make Notre-Dame completely accessible. (Repair the 3 vaults, the cover, the frame, repair of the grounds, the repair of the bays and the repair of the stained glass) It will be then possible to uncover the superb paintings discovered 5 years ago. But we should not delay work any longer because each wait allows the stones and the roof to further degrade whereas us should already be able to benefit from it.
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