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18.04.2011
Minister President David McAllister is the new patron of the Cathedral Restoration Project
Hildesheim/Hanover (bph) The Hildesheim Cathedral Restoration Project has a new patron: David McAllister, the Minister President of Lower Saxony, assumed this honorary position when his predecessor, Christian Wulff, had to step down from his position as patron on becoming Federal President. The Dean of the Cathedral, retired Auxiliary Bishop Hans-Georg Koitz, Vicar General Dr Werner Schreer together with Claudia Schröder, deputy chairperson of the Cathedral Restoration Society, called in at the State Chancellery on Monday evening to thank the Minister President personally and to present him with a symbolic "cathedral brolly” bearing the logo of the Cathedral Restoration Project.
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Minister President David McAllister (2nd from |
“As Minister President of Lower Saxony, I am delighted to take over the patronage of the highly important and extensive Hildesheim Cathedral Restoration Project”, said Minister President McAllister at the meeting. “This is an extremely important project for the whole of Lower Saxony. Hildesheim Cathedral and St Michael’s Church are the first architectural monuments in Lower Saxony to have been recognised by UNESCO as part of the cultural heritage of humanity. They have been included in the World Heritage List for the last 26 years. There is nowhere else in Germany that has two churches on the UNESCO World Heritage List.”
Auxiliary Bishop Hans-Georg Koitz, in his capacity as Principal of the Cathedral Restoration Project, and Vicar General Dr Werner Schreer, in his capacity as Project Leader, thanked the Minister President for his kind words and gave him a “cathedral brolly” – an example of the many products available via the Diocese’s online shop which seeks to provide financial support for the Cathedral Restoration Project. “It is very important to us that the State of Lower Saxony and the Minister President are supporting us”, the Vicar General replied. “This shows just how deeply the Cathedral and its history are anchored in people’s minds.” Bishop Koitz invited the Minister President to attend the opening of the restored cathedral in 2014 and offered personally to give him a guided tour of the cathedral and the new cathedral museum. David McAllister promised he would come along to the opening if at all possible.
Hildesheim Cathedral has been closed since January 2010 and will be completely restored between then and 2015 to celebrate the 1,200th birthday of the Diocese and the town of Hildesheim. This will include removing fixtures installed during the time of the Reconstruction and restoring the former Romantic-period spatial feel. The Diocese is also building a new cathedral museum in the adjacent St Anthony’s Church in order to display the extensive cathedral treasures which, together with the Cathedral itself and the Protestant St Michael’s Church, is included in the UNESCO World Heritage List.
The Cathedral restoration and the new Cathedral museum will cost around 29.98 million euros altogether. The Diocese is contributing 7.225 million euros towards this; the State of Lower Saxony has agreed to contribute 2 million euros. The remainder is being paid for by major donors such as the European Union and various foundations. Apart from this, the Diocese is hoping to be able to attract donations from private individuals. With this in mind, it has produced a wide variety of merchandising articles to support the cost of restoration. One of these is the “cathedral brolly”. The merchandising articles are available for purchase online at www.domsanierung-shop.de.