Thing promised, thing due: the Welsh writer Ken Follet offered the full copyright of his story
Notre-Dame,
published after the fire of April 15, 2019, to restore Saint-Samson's cathedral in Dol-de -Brittany, the Heritage Foundation announced on Monday.
In 2019, he announced his intention to donate to the Foundation all the royalties collected on his small 80-page book.
This one has sold over 113,000 copies worldwide.
To read also: Ken Follett: "Notre-Dame is important for every educated human being in the world"
“
Ken Follett donates all of his copyright to the Heritage Foundation.
Together, they choose to use this donation to restore and secure another cathedral, that of Dol-de-Bretagne, supported by the Foundation.
It will soon donate a sum of 148,000 euros to the town,
”said a statement.
The flagship of Gothic architecture in Brittany, the Saint-Samson cathedral, listed as a historical monument since 1840, is in very poor condition.
Work, for an amount of 2.4 million euros, was undertaken in 2019 and should be completed in 2024. The framework and the roof are no longer waterproof, the granite balustrades are damaged, some facings must be replaced or consolidated, four 13th century stained-glass windows, the oldest stained-glass windows listed in Brittany, are no longer protected.
A small town rich in its religious, military (ramparts) and civil (half-timbered houses) heritage, Dol, not far from Cancale, has initiated a procedure for classification as a remarkable heritage site.
Ken Follett is best known for
The Pillars of the Earth
(1989), where he precisely described the fire in Kingsbridge Cathedral.
He had told how thousands of men and women had rebuilt it with their bare hands.
