Heavily dependent on tourism and its revenues, Saint Paul's Cathedral in London threatens to be abandoned.
"
If we do not manage to gather the necessary resources to be able to employ the people in charge of the maintenance of the building and to pay for the heating and the lighting, we will have to close our doors
", alerted
David Ison, the dean of the Anglican house. , on the BBC.
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Due to the pandemic, the historic monument has seen its attendance rate drop by 90%. A crisis situation for the managers of the place, who deplore colossal losses. Digging into its stimulus package, the UK government has allocated £ 3.3million to make up for the shortfall. But this sum acts as a cautery on a wooden leg, the cost of maintaining the place being estimated at 8 million pounds per year. Without taking into account maintenance and restoration work.
The building, completed in 1710, is indeed crumbling under the weight of the years. As a sign of abandoning the sky, the rotting roof lets the rain filter inside the nave. A renovation plan was due to start in March 2020 but was finally canceled due to lack of resources. "
The cathedral houses collections, really precious objects covered with plastic and arranged next to seals, because the roof leaks
", regretted Oliver Caroe, the architect in charge of the conservation of the place, still for the
BBC
.
As a result of the economic crisis and the growing insalubrity of the site, the 42 singers - including 12 professionals - of the cathedral choir are also threatened. Faced with these difficult circumstances, Andrew Carwood, the director of music for Saint-Paul, still retains a note of optimism. "
It is irresponsible of me not to consider all options, but I will do everything in my power - and I know the cathedral is here to make sure we find an answer to the problem we are facing.
", did he declare.