They arrived early in the morning, like executioners of low works.
The excavators began to tear down the chapel of Saint-Joseph.
This destruction of an imposing building built at the end of the 19th century in the Vauban district of Lille arouses unease.
When so much is collapsing around us, this self-inflicted killing resonates painfully.
Couldn't we have found a way to preserve the old Jesuit building?
Different cultural personalities and the Urgences Patrimoine association have tried;
in vain.
The Catholic University, owner of the desecrated chapel, argued for the need to expand and modernize its campus;
the Ministry of Culture saw no
"major architectural interest"
and refused to classify the building (which would have saved it).
The Lille town hall washed its hands of it.
No one is guilty;
or then, progress, as Nino Ferrer sang in the 1970s when he spoke of the disappearance of
"the house
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