Château de d’Artagnan: communities surrender

It is the outcome of a saga that will have kept fans of the Three Musketeers in suspense. The communities which were trying to acquire the castle where D'Artagnan was born in the 17th century to make it a tourist destination announced they were giving up in a press release on Friday. “The gracious appeal that the community of communes of D'Artagnan en Fezensac has filed will not have any effect. We must take note of this and respect the decision,” declared Barbara Neto (LR), the president of the group of communities.

The castle located in Lupiac, in the Gers, was at the heart of a duel between the latter, who wanted to make it a center of tourist and cultural attraction, and a private buyer, the CEO of Auchan Retail, Yves Claude.

On December 19, the Gers Land Development and Rural Establishment Society (Safer), which has a right of pre-emption over the castle due to the approximately 150 hectares of agricultural land surrounding it, opted for businessman's offer.

The latter, who would fuel “a private housing project” for the estate according to a source close to the matter, defended himself in a letter sent to France 2, extracts of which were made public. “Since the first day, I made it clear to the owner as well as to Safer that the property would be open and that I would put my energy into sharing this place as best as possible with the public,” he assures.

It was in this castle located approximately 120 km from Toulouse that Charles de Batz de Castelmore, better known under the name of d'Artagnan, was born at the beginning of the 17th century, whose life in the service of the crown of France would inspire the famous character of Alexandre Dumas.

Regretting that the plan to purchase the residence was “at the center of all the controversies”, Barbara Neto called in her press release to “close this chapter and (to) collectively open a new page”.

However, the procedure with Safer was not completed. According to a source close to the case, a final decision should in fact resolve the matter around this Monday, January 22.