Restoration

Lima spent 45.1 million soles restoring six historic churches over four years, including 9.8 million on Santo Domingo, using city funds and a share of sales tax from its historic centre.

Lima spent 45.1 million soles restoring six historic churches over four years, including 9.8 million on Santo Domingo, using city funds and a share of sales tax from its historic centre.

Toronto’s Berkeley Church, built in 1871 as a Wesleyan Methodist church and later an event venue, has been bought for $3.75 million, after its operator went into receivership, by a developer planning to restore and reopen it.

The United Methodist Church sold Baltimore’s 153-year-old Mount Vernon Place church for $500,000 to a local nonprofit, which leases space back to the congregation for $100 a year and plans an $8 million-plus restoration.

UNESCO completed restoring Mosul’s Al-Tahera Church and the Al-Saa’a Convent, which the Islamic State used as a prison, as part of a $115 million programme funded mainly by the UAE and EU.

Redeemer Lutheran Church in Panama City’s Balboa district, founded in 1948, was rededicated in 2024 after a restoration that included a new roof, mould treatment, new windows and a restored tile floor.

France planned a new public subscription, modelled on its heritage lottery, to restore village churches, after €280 million went to 8,265 religious heritage projects over five years and 10,500 religious buildings hold monument status.

Aleppo’s Maronite Cathedral of St Elijah, damaged by mortar fire from 2012 to 2016, was set to reopen in July 2020 after a restoration supported by $460,000 from Aid to the Church in Need.