This is the site selected in Occitania this year. The heritage foundation has chosen to come to the rescue of the Jardin des Plantes of Montpellier, and more particularly of the house of stewardship.
Formerly an integral part of the Jardin des Plantes, ceded to the State in 1815, it only recently became the property of the University of Montpellier, after years of abandonment. And the struggle of a handful of diehards to save it. “In 2013, we learned by chance that the Queen’s garden and the stewardship house of the Jardin des Plantes were put up for sale by the State,” recalls Marie-Claude Passouant, president of the Sauvons le Jardin association. of the Queen and the stewardship building of the Jardin des Plantes.
The oldest botanical garden in France
Very quickly, the mobilization grew and there were several thousand people who called for its preservation, particularly from the international scientific community. “Aware, the town hall very quickly bought the Jardin de la Reine. But the stewardship building was too dilapidated. We proposed renovation projects with students from the school of architecture and obtained, in 2021, the signature of the transfer of the building to the university, three years after Gérald Darmanin’s agreement [alors ministre du budget]. »
If this building was spotted by the mission led by Stéphane Bern, it is no coincidence. The Jardin des Plantes in Montpellier is the oldest in France. A space founded in 1593 by the botanist Pierre Richer de Belleval, at the request of Henri IV.
“Unprecedented national visibility”
Today, there is still an extraordinary flora, made up of a multitude of medicinal plants, but also a real paradise for botanists. “This registration in the heritage lottery offers the Montpellier Botanical Garden unprecedented national visibility, and amply deserved, underlines the town hall of Montpellier (owner of the Queen’s garden, adjoining). It will allow to federate […] new partners. The mayor, Michaël Delafosse (PS), who supported this registration with Stéphane Bern, wishes, in the long term, to apply for the Unesco Memory of the World label.
As part of the State-Region Plan, funding has favored the renovation of this magical place, located in the city center, a few steps from the faculty of medicine, the oldest in Europe. The effort is supported by a foundation made up of corporate sponsors.
In four years, 100 million euros raised by the heritage foundation
The national subscription must release the missing funds for the renovation of the building, called to become a place of reception and exhibition for the attention of the general public. Today, the stewardship building is closed to the public. The amount raised to accompany this renovation will be unveiled in the fall, during Heritage Days.
The heritage mission for the safeguarding of endangered heritage is carried out by Stéphane Bern. It is deployed by the Heritage Foundation and supported by the Ministry of Culture and La Française des jeux. The profits from a dedicated lottery are donated to 18 national projects, one per region (in metropolitan France and overseas territories). In four years, it has made it possible to collect more than 100 million euros (including 28 million in 2021). This is the second time that the Hérault will benefit from this support, after Fort de Brescou, in Agde, in 2019.