Morag Jordan reports back on this year's Journée Européen Du Patrimoine.
For the fifth year running Holy Trinity opened its doors to the general public on 19th and 20th September as part of Nice's "Journées Européennes du Patrimoine" programme which is a weekend each year when interesting buildings and places can be visited across Europe. As Holy Trinity is normally open to the public during the week, our church may not be such a draw as other rare gems that can only be seen once a year. Nevertheless, this time we managed to attract two hundred visitors which is more than ever before. A short feature about our church on the Nice Matin website may have helped steer a few people in our direction, but we are also listed in the weekend's booklet and its town centre map.
However, Heritage Weekend is not only about numbers, but is also about the conversations our volunteers have with these visitors. Carol O'Sullivan and I had the quietest slot of the weekend over Saturday lunchtime with just a handful of visitors, but we did have a really good chat with them all. What particularly struck me this year was how many French people, mostly locals, crossed our threshold as there were relatively few tourists. Some people spent a long time examining everything and were curious to know how we are different from the Catholic Church; I was asked for example whether we are allowed to even mention the Virgin Mary!
As usual most visitors admired the stained glass windows and some were very interested to learn about Rev. Lewis Way and the church's connection with the Promenade des Anglais. Many sat and read the information leaflets carefully and a few just sat for a long time meditating and enjoying the peace and beauty of our church. Sharing our church with others certainly reminds us just how beautiful it is, and how proud we should be that without any outside help we manage to maintain and cherish this monument historique.
Below are a few comments from our volunteers without whom we could not welcome these visitors.
"Karla and I truly enjoyed being a part of it. Hopefully we will see some of the locals in Nice coming to the service just to see what it's all about" : Debra
"We had mainly Polish visitors... amazing and lovely to talk to them about faith in Poland and, of course, the treasures in our church" :Bettina
"We had a good, interesting time with the French visitors" : Cynthia
"It was a fun hour of meeting and greeting people from all backgrounds. I enjoyed the opportunity to serve" : Chantal
"My (Sunday) morning before the service was very agreeable. Mostly French, most of the 16 visitors were especially interested in the stained glass windows" : Jill
"Debra and I had a lovely time introducing mostly French visitors to our wonderful church": Karla
Our warm welcome to all our visitoris would not have been possible without our volunteers. So a very big thank you to all who helped!
MERCI MILLE FOIS!
