French billionaire Francois Pinault and son Francois-Henri Pinault have officially signed documents setting aside $109 million toward rebuilding Notre Dame Cathedral.
, following months of delay that left officials largely reliant on small charity donations to fund the first phase of repairs.
Francois Pinault, whose international luxury group Kering owns Gucci and Saint Laurent, pledged the money directly after the fire. His rival, French billionaire Bernard Arnault of luxury goods group LVMH, soon followed suit, pledging 200 million euros . The Bettencourt Schueller Foundation of the L'Oreal fortune also promised 200 million euros.Francois Pinault said that they hoped announcing their donation publicly would motivate others to chip in as well.
"It came spontaneously during that evening, when we didn't yet know whether the cathedral could be saved," Aupetit said of the Pinault family's pledge."It launched a movement that is still ongoing, because we still have 140 donations a week."
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