Sure,
—
Vladimir Khozine (delegate of the Government of the Russian Federation in charge of Russian assets and interests), accompanied by the Russian Ambassador to France, met with the mayor of Nice in the legal framework of the Saint Nicholas Cathedral after the Court of Appeal in Aix confirmed its ownership by the Russian State. This visit to Nice has definitively allowed the turning of a page in this story, which pits the underdog (the ACOR association that has managed this place of worship for several decades in agreement with the Patriarchate of Constantinople) against the ogre (the Russian Federation that wants to concede it to the Patriarchate of Moscow?). Apparently, there is no doubt, even though not everyone has given up the fight (see our box).
But between legal reasons and those of the heart… the last word is never said!
To prove this, a similar case occurred recently in Italy, specifically in Bari (the regional capital of Apulia) where a Russian church, desired by Tsar Nicholas II and dedicated to Saint Nicholas, was constructed starting from 1913 and completed after World War I by the architect Alexey Viktorovich Shchusev.
After the Bolshevik Revolution, its management was first ensured by a local association and then by the municipality. It is considered a symbol of the union between Eastern European civilization and the peoples of the eastern Mediterranean basin.
In 2009, the President of the Italian Republic Giorgio Napolitano symbolically returned the keys of this church to the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Medvedev, in the presence of the Apostolic Nuncio to the Holy See who represented His Holiness Benedict XVI.
HISTORICAL CONTEXT
On November 9, 1865, following the death in Nice of his son (the Tsarevich Nicholas Alexandrovich), the Emperor of Russia Alexander II acquired part of the vast park of the Villa Bermond in Nice.
The Emperor subsequently built, right where the deceased’s room was located, a memorial with a commemorative chapel.
The Russian community in Nice, which grew increasingly significant towards the end of the 19th century, had a place of worship on Longchamp Street, which gradually became insufficient to accommodate all the faithful.
Thus, at the beginning of the following century, with the support of Maria Feodorovna, widow of Emperor Alexander III and mother of Nicholas II, the idea of constructing a new place of worship took shape.
The construction of a cathedral was then decided by the Emperor, who established an “Imperial Commission for the construction of a new Russian Orthodox church in Nice” to study the project, collect the necessary funds, and find land to build the new church.
A piece of land was thus acquired in the city center by the Commission in 1901, but the project had to be abandoned because, saturated with water, this plot could not support a building of such importance.
It was on July 21, 1902, that Nicholas II decided to put at the Commission’s disposal the land located on Boulevard du Tsarévitch, acquired by Emperor Alexander II.
*The construction work began in 1903.*
Between 1904 and 1908, the construction Commission encountered difficulties, especially financial ones, which delayed and even temporarily suspended the work, as the construction costs had significantly exceeded estimates. Starting from an initial estimate at 200,000 F, raised in 1903 to 405,000 F, construction was able to resume thanks to financial donations, notably from the Emperor and Prince Galitzine. To avoid further mismanagement of the work, he decided to reorganize the construction Commission, at the head of which he appointed the same Prince Galitzine.
Simultaneously, the Emperor decided to formalize the transfer of ownership of the land to the Imperial Cabinet and organize the legal conditions of its occupation.
Thus, by ordinance (ukase) dated December 20, 1908, the reigning Emperor of Russia declared that the Imperial Cabinet should be considered the real owner of the land.
Then, on January 9, 1909, by an authentic act received by Me Moriez, Notary in Nice, Baron Frederickz, Minister of the Russian Imperial Court, granted the Saint Petersburg Diocesan Ecclesiastical Administration an emphyteutic lease on part of the Villa Bermond land, with a surface area of 2,950 m2, requiring the leaseholder to maintain the church once the building was completed.
This emphyteutic lease was granted and accepted for ninety-nine years from January 1, 1909, subject to various charges and conditions.
The exterior of the Cathedral was completed during 1909, and its interior decoration in 1912.
The Cathedral was inaugurated and consecrated on December 18, 1912, during a ceremony whose splendor was noted by newspapers of the time.
It was by an act of July 10, 1914, that the Cathedral was officially handed over to the Russian Orthodox clergy of Nice.
From that handover, the Russian Orthodox Church, represented by the diocesan administration of Saint Petersburg, itself represented by the Russian Orthodox Church of Nice, administered the building, which it was tasked with maintaining and keeping alive within the framework of its leaseholder obligations.
However, the Russian Orthodox Church experienced significant changes following the October Revolution.
Given the impossibility of communication between Russia and the Orthodox churches located abroad, the administration of the properties of Russian churches in Western Europe could no longer be assumed by the Metropolitan of Saint Petersburg.
Under these conditions, temporarily and provisionally, Metropolitan Eulogius was tasked with the “provisional administration of Russian Orthodox Churches in Western Europe and notably of Churches located in France.”
In 1923, the Parish of Nice, which administered the Cathedral’s assets under Eulogius’ jurisdiction, formed into a religious association to comply with the general administration rules of religions instituted by the law on the separation of church and state of 1905.
By notarial act on May 13, 1927, Metropolitan Eulogius, representing the leaseholder, declared “assigning full ownership, in accordance with Article 112 of the law of April 29, 1926,” to the Russian Orthodox religious association of Nice, several assets and real rights whose supreme administration was owned or rented by the Russian Orthodox Church in Nice, including:
– The Russian Cathedral and its dependencies
– The church on Longchamp Street and its dependencies
– The cemetery church of Caucade and its dependencies.
Since then, the Saint Nicholas Cathedral has been administered by the Russian Orthodox religious association of Nice.
The emphyteutic lease expired on December 31, 2007.
In view of the end of the emphyteutic lease on December 31, 2007, the Russian Federation filed a request on November 25, 2005, asking Mr. President of the Court to appoint a bailiff to establish a report on the state of the building (both interior and exterior) and the land on which it was built, as well as an inventory of all the movable assets located there, and to make all useful findings to allow for the determination of the responsibility for the restoration work to be carried out on or in the building, as well as buildings by destination.
By order dated November 25, 2005, the President granted this request.
An inventory of the furniture included in the Cathedral was finally conducted by the French Ministry of Culture for inclusion in the supplementary inventory of Historical Monuments.
This decision of the French administration was materialized by an order of the Ministry of Culture dated April 4, 2007, which the Russian Federation, when informed, requested to rectify because its terms appeared to prejudge the ownership quality of the defendant association (amicable appeal of July 2, 2007).
By a new order dated February 20, 2008, the Minister of Culture corrected his previous order.
– RUSSIA FEDERATION POSITION
1 – The land leased by Nicholas II in 1909 was owned by the RUSSIAN State.
The land belonged to the imperial Russian State from its acquisition by Emperor Alexander II in 1865.
Its ownership then passed from one reigning Emperor to another until Nicholas II.
Nicholas II, in 1908, confirmed that the land was not private but imperial property and officially designated the Imperial Cabinet as the true owner.
The character of the imperial property of the land was later continuously confirmed by the publication of the Ukase in the real estate register, by official correspondence, by the signing and content of the emphyteutic lease, and by subsequent publications.
2 – The state property of the land was regularly and legitimately transferred to the Russian Federation by a succession of regular and legitimate State acts.
The Imperial Cabinet, a State body, was under the tutelage of the Ministry of the Imperial Court.
After Nicholas II’s abdication and Grand Duke Michael’s renunciation, the legitimate Provisional Government maintained the Cabinet.
The Russian Federation lawfully and legitimately succeeds the rights of the Russian Empire, including the emphyteutic lease.
The acts invoked by the A.C.O.R. could not infringe on the Russian State’s ownership rights.
– POSITION OF THE RUSSIAN ORTHODOX RELIGIOUS ASSOCIATION
– The 1927 notarial act grants full ownership to the association.
– Acquisitive prescription in favor of the A.C.O.R.
– Due to the Revolution, the Russian Federation cannot consider itself the heir of the Tsars.
– THE POINT ON PROCEDURES
1 – Decision of the Nice Court of First Instance dated January 20, 2010, which grants the Russian State full ownership of the land, the building, and all artworks and assets located inside,
2 – The Aix-en-Provence Court of Appeal confirmed the judgment on May 19, 2011:
“The State of the Russian Federation is entitled to regain possession, following the expiration of the emphyteutic lease of January 9, 1909, which occurred on December 31, 2007, of the real estate subject to this lease, the building known as the ‘Russian Orthodox Cathedral of Nice,’” the Court of Appeal ruled.
3 – The orthodox cultural association expressed its intention to appeal in cassation.
