Aerial view of the Château de Chantilly, in the Oise.

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M.Astar / SIPA

With the health crisis, the domain of Chantilly, in the Oise, has turned into a sleeping beauty.

Five months of closure in 2020, Covid-19 requires, caused five to six million losses.

The estate houses an equestrian center and, in its castle, the Condé Museum, with the second collection of ancient art in France.

The slate is getting longer every day: enormous maintenance and heating costs, charges for the 130 employees, no ticket office, canceled horse shows… All activities are at a standstill.

The management calls on the state to save the place.

Unprecedented fundraising of 100,000 euros

Chantilly, north of Paris, which was proud to have 450,000 visitors a year, 30% of whom are foreigners, "appeals to the government, to the President of the Republic", underlines Christophe Tardieu, its general administrator.

He launched an unprecedented collection on the Internet which has already raised 100,000 euros.

Donations welcome, but completely insufficient.

"We can not imagine that this national and international treasure is abandoned", moved Mathieu Deldicque, curator of heritage, who browsed the exhibition presenting porcelain from Meyssen and Chantilly, which he obtained to extend until the end of August. , thanks to “very solidarity” lenders.

“Our cash flow in April will be almost zero if we continue like this.

We are in the hole of the racket [helpers] ”, laments Christophe Tardieu.

While many tasks must continue to be performed.

Aga Khan's financial withdrawal

The estate, which does not come under the Ministry of Culture and is not private property, falls outside the scope of emergency aid.

For fifteen years, he had been supported to the tune of 70 million euros by the Aga Khan, who announced in 2019 his withdrawal, effective in 2020.

“The simplest solution, argues Christophe Tardieu, is for the State to support us in this particular period.

How it supports all the great cultural institutions, public or private!

We do not ask him for money in normal times, the castle can be perfectly balanced from a budgetary point of view ”.

Discussions are underway at the Elysee Palace, the Head of State, Emmanuel Macron, being "the protector of the Institute" of which Chantilly is one of the properties, he recalls.

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