From a beautiful but dilapidated chateau to a Roman bridge, Corsican convent and Breton island fort to keep out the English, France this week is unveiling its first list of top heritage sites to benefit from a UK-inspired National Lottery draw.

President Emmanuel Macron is due to officially name the first 18 emblematic beneficiaries of France’s new “heritage lottery draw” on Thursday in his latest move to raise the country’s profile via historic and cultural symbols.

But their names were leaked to the Le Figaro newspaper on Monday.

They include the 17th-century Chateau de Bussy-Rabutin in Burgundy; the Fort-Cigogne, an 18th-century military fort off Brittany, western France, and built to stave off attack by British privateers.

Other landmarks earmarked for renovation are the Roman aqueduct of the Gier, eastern France, built during the reign of Hadrian, and the 15th-century convent of Saint François on the Mediterranean island of Corsica.