“For sale, Castelmore Castle. Ten centuries of history. Located in the village of Lupiac in the Gers (south-west), the fate of the home of d’Artagnan, hero of Alexandre Dumas’ romantic masterpiece The Three Musketeers remains uncertain. This building which saw the birth, at the beginning of the 17th century, of Charles de Batz de Castelmore, whose life in the service of the crown of France would inspire the famous character of Alexandre Dumas, has been for sale for more than two years.
This 700 m2 castle with an ocher facade is today at the heart of a duel between local authorities, who dream of transforming it into a tourist and cultural center, and the CEO of the distribution giant Auchan Retail, Yves Claude, who has “a private housing project” for the estate, a source close to the matter told AFP.
Public actors in the surrounding area hope to take advantage of the international fame of the royal musketeer to develop the territory. In France too, the hero of Dumas’ novel remains popular: 3.3 million spectators saw the film The Three Musketeers released in the spring, and the second part, Milady, on display since the beginning of December, also fills theaters.
In 2022, the Gers department wanted to acquire the castle located around 120 km from Toulouse and valued at around one million euros, its president, Philippe Dupouy, explained to AFP. Originally from the region, the French Prime Minister at the time, Jean Castex, supported the initiative. But this failed, with the owner of the building demanding double the amount, not to mention major renovation work to be undertaken.
In 2023, the 350th anniversary of the death of the musketeer, who fell during the siege of Maastricht (Netherlands), local, regional and state officials refused to admit defeat: they launched Autour de Artagnan, an association aiming to create an “ambitious” project around the proud Gascon, and made a new purchase proposal last summer.
But a surprise decision came to dampen the enthusiasm of public actors: on December 19, the Gers Land Development and Rural Establishment Society (Safer) opted for another choice. This organization has a right of pre-emption over the castle due to the 150 hectares of agricultural land surrounding it. However, he said he was interested in the purchase proposal from the CEO of Auchan Retail, Yves Claude, who wishes to make it his second home.
On the community side, the battle is tough and we are still looking for a solution. This opinion from Safer comes “extremely badly” and is “very poorly understood here”, storms to the AFP a local political actor who prefers not to be identified.
“It would be a real shame if such heritage fell into the hands of the private sector,” laments Muriel Abadie, Gers elected official and vice-president of the Occitanie region in charge of tourism. “I am surprised that between a project of general interest for our territory and a private project, as respectable as it may be, Safer did not choose the project of general interest,” lamented the local deputy, Jean- René Cazeneuve.
At the departmental council, Philippe Dupouy, however, questions the solidity of the project of the community of communes, “at this stage, it seems, not very defined” according to him. To maintain hope, the public partners of the project are clinging to the fact that the procedure before Safer is not completed, as the latter actually confirmed to AFP, specifying that its decision process was “submitted by the law on confidentiality. According to a source close to the case, a final decision could resolve the case around January 22.
