French Cathedral Declared Russian Property

A court in Nice, France, ruled that one of the country's largest cathedral's is actually the property of Russia as it was paid for by Tsar Nicolas II. Alexander II purchased the land in 1865 to build a memorial to his oldest son and heir, Nicholas Alexandrovitch, who died there at aged 21 of meningitis. The cathedral was completed in 1912. The church's parish council argued that Nicolas II paid for the building work with his own money and that they were the legitimate heirs to the building. The Russian state contended that he used imperial funds belonging to the mother country and laid claim to the cathedral after a 99-year lease expired in 2007. The Nice court ruled the parishioners did not have the right to buy the property after the lease expired, and it should revert to Moscow. The association immediately said it would appeal the ruling. "I cannot see how an association that has occupied the cathedral for 80 years in a peaceful and continuous fashion cannot be considered its owner," said the group's lawyer Antoine Chatain. The parishioners' group had said that by claiming ownership, the Russian state hoped to bring the cathedral under the control of the Patriarchate of Moscow and thus under the influence of the Kremlin. The parish council has since 1931 been affiliated to the rival Patriarchate of Constantinople.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/france/7037751/French-cathedral-declared-Russian-property.html
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