2023 review of protection as historic monuments (buildings) in the Great East

The buildings protected as historical monuments in the Great East

In 2023, 4,502 monuments were protected as historic monuments in the Great East, with a homogeneous distribution throughout the region.

 Number of listed or listed buildings

2/3 of the protected monuments in the Great East are registrants, which constitutes the first level of protection and 1/3 concerns rankings, the highest level of protection.

What kind of territory?

Concerning the number of buildings protected according to the departments, it could be tempting to oppose urban and rural departments. The Bas-Rhin, the most populous department in the region, has the greatest number of protections and rural departments such as the Ardennes, the Meuse or the Vosges are the least endowed. Nevertheless, the Moselle, the second department in terms of population, has fewer historical monuments than a rural department like Aube, and that of the Vosges was, in its time, the first industrial department of Lorraine.

How the Regional Commission on Heritage and Architecture (CRPA) is approached

An application for protection must be based on the heritage interest of a property (historical, artistic, scientific and technical criteria) and the criteria on which the Regional Heritage and Architecture Commission (CRPA) that rules on the files are, in particular, rarity, exemplarity, authenticity and integrity.

Requests for protection, addressed to regional prefects and processed by the DRAC, may come from the owner, the assignee, or a local authority, a heritage association - as from any person with an interest in heritage - or directly from the State services.

In recent years, we have observed that referrals are increasingly made by Internet users who express a crush. 68 requests were received by the DRAC Grand Est in 2023 and 53 eligible files were the subject of additional requests by the DRAC services to support these files.

In the end, in 2023, 11 new applications opened an investigation and are or will be submitted to the Regional Commission of Heritage and Architecture, with a total of 65 pending cases in 2023, 90% of which have already moved on to a permanent RCAP delegation.

Architectural typology of files

Among the protected buildings, there is a predominance of religious heritage, followed by civil heritage.

The departments for which the demands are greatest are, not surprisingly, the most populated departments, namely Meurthe-et-Moselle, Moselle and Bas-Rhin.

Number of applications submitted to the Regional Commission on Heritage and Architecture in 2023

27 applications for protection were submitted last year: 15 in permanent delegation and 12 in the Regional Commission of Heritage and Architecture, of which 7 received a favourable opinion.

The 7 files that received a favourable opinion in CRPA

• The Hôtel d'Égremont in Marville (Meuse);
• The Abbey of Saint-Benoit in Vigneulles-lès-Hattonchatel (Meuse);
• The statue of Sergeant Blandan in Nancy (Meurthe-et-Moselle);
• Châtelet House in Benfeld (Bas-Rhin);
• The former Brasserie de l'Espérance (with a wish to classify the brewing room) in Schiltigheim (Bas-Rhin);
• The former Gruber brewery in Strasbourg (Bas-Rhin);
• The Hôtel de voyageurs Sainte-Barbe in Plombières-lès-Bains (Vosges).

14 application files are pending in National Heritage and Architecture Commission, which decides on applications for classification.

The 8 monuments protected in 2023 in the Great East

In 2023, eight buildings were added to the list of monuments protected as historic monuments, by orders of the regional prefect:

• Stosswihr Alpine Ambulance (Haut-Rhin)
• the Ponsardin Hotel in Reims (Marne)
• the Maison Châtelet in Benfeld (Bas-Rhin)
• the royal barracks in Lauterbourg (Bas-Rhin)
• the castle of Brienne (Aube)
• the furnace house of the chapter in Langres (Haute-Marne)
• the villa Mathieu in Toul (Meurthe-et-Moselle)
• American Memorial Hospital in Reims (Marne)