Stéphane Bern was elected Thursday July 23 president of the association which is leading the reconstruction of the spire and the north tower of the cathedral basilica of Saint-Denis, but without the voice of the Insoumis councilor Bally Bagayoko, who had argued that this presidency previously belonged to the mayor of the city.
“I am happy to have been elected unanimously by the voters,” said host Stéphane Bern, contacted by telephone. Two of the 28 members of the association’s board of directors, however, did not take part in the vote, including Bally Bagayoko who left the meeting before, according to several participants.
The Follow the Arrow association is piloting the repair project of the north tower and spire – struck by lightning in 1837 – of the basilica of Saint-Denis, north of Paris. It is one of the major monuments of French and European heritage, where 40 kings and 26 queens are buried.
Stéphane Bern succeeds as president of the association to Mathieu Hanotin, former socialist mayor of Saint-Denis (beaten in the March elections by Bally Bagayoko), who himself succeeded the former PCF councilor Patrick Braouezec.
The “big sister” of Notre-Dame de Paris
“When someone comes to ask you to serve, you have to serve,” said Stéphane Bern, who already sat on the association’s board of directors. He explained that the state, to which the basilica belongs, had encouraged him to run. “My candidacy was not against anyone, moreover the mayor (Bally Bagayoko) withdrew and was not a candidate,” argued the host, assuring that “doing politics is the last thing that interests (him)”.
The laying of the first stone of the reconstruction site took place at the beginning of 2025. “The project is on track, we now have to find the 10% of the budget that is missing,” explained Stéphane Bern who intends to serve as a “sounding board”, in France and abroad, to solicit new patrons and bring more of the public to “this fantastic training site”.
“Between 4 and 4.5 million are missing to complete the financing of 38 million”, specifies the general director of Follow the arrow, Nicolas Matyjasik, former deputy chief of staff to Mathieu Hanotin in Saint-Denis. He praises the experience and stature of Stéphane Bern in making known this basilica of Saint-Denis, “big sister of Notre-Dame” in Paris.
In 2018, Stéphane Bern was entrusted by Emmanuel Macron with a mission to identify heritage in danger and to find new sources of financing to restore it. According to its 2025 activity report, this “Bern mission” mobilized 365 million euros (notably through the heritage lottery) and claims to have completed 500 projects.
