To the Dol-de-Bretagne tourist office, the question has been coming up repeatedly since the end of July. “Is this Ken Follett’s cathedral?” At the reception, Amélia nods. The cathedral in question is across the street and, inside, Aliénor organizes guided tours all summer long. “People sometimes come on purpose for that,” confirms the young woman. I remember a group of Germans who only asked questions about Ken Follett. »
It is a fact, while Mont-Saint-Michel, about forty kilometers away, has until now captured the majority of tourists, the latter now make a detour here to discover a building which, however, dominates the sector since the… XIIIe century ! An unprecedented attraction that this town of 6,200 souls therefore owes to Ken Follett, the writer who chose to assign all the copyrights of his book Our Lady to the restoration of Saint-Samson Cathedral. Why ? The answer is primarily arithmetic.
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Originally, the novelist had chosen to support the jewel dear to Victor Hugo, hence the title of his book written just after the fire. Only, with donations having poured in from all over the world, the billion euros was quickly reached in the capital. The Heritage Foundation therefore suggested that Ken Follett move his obol to another historic site and submitted to him a list of four cathedrals also in need of a serious facelift. By choosing that of Dol-de-Bretagne, the Welshman then played on the patriotic fiber since the monument was established on an old monastery founded in the VIe century by the bishop of… Cardiff (Saint Samson de Dol).
A fair return of things in short, which Olivier Delépine welcomes. For the creator and director of the Cathédraloscope, a unique center in France for the interpretation of cathedrals located at the foot of Saint-Samson, letting such a monument deteriorate would have been a huge loss. “It is the most educational cathedral in France, because it was built in one piece in Gothic, and therefore we see the beginnings of Gothic, explains the retired architect. They made mistakes, things that didn’t stick at the beginning, but after forty years, we can see now, there is real know-how. »
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This know-how, Ken Follett came to see him in person on July 31, welcomed with great fanfare by the town of which he was made an honorary citizen. After discussions with Mr. Delépine, he even gave his agreement to baptize the future room which will present twenty models of cathedrals “room of the Pillars of the Earth”, in reference to the title of his bestseller devoted to the epic of the builders of cathedrals. To discover the other tribute that was paid to him during his visit, you have to take some height. After taking the two hundred or so steps of the narrow staircase in the tower of the baptistery, you must then venture into a maze of woodwork leading to the forest, where the elements of the framework intermingle. It is there, on the west roof, that Ken Follett was invited to fix himself a slate engraved with his name, symbol of his participation in much needed work.
€148,000 in royalties
“After the Second World War, the roofs were restored with poor quality nails. Suddenly, the slates fell one after the other and this caused cracks in which the frost and the vegetation entered, damaging the stone, recalls Xavier Coadic, heritage assistant. Everything had to be redone, in five stages of work for a total amount of 2.5 million euros, 60% of which was paid for by the town hall. »
Suffice to say that the 148,000 euros in royalties provided by Follett are welcome! “When his book Our Lady came out in 2019, we had sold only one here, and since the announcement of the donation, we have sold 54”, assures Éric, one of the two booksellers in the city. Finally, the inhabitants themselves also participated in the repair of their building.