Even Monseigneur Lacombe, Archbishop of Auch, alluded to this during his New Year's message. There was danger in the house – in the literal sense of the word, because the controversy that has shaken the Gers département in southwest France was, in fact, the sale of the emblematic Château de Castelmore and its agricultural and forestry outbuildings for €2 million. Commonly known as "Château de d'Artagnan," it is located in Lupiac, a Gascon village of 300 inhabitants, between fields and valleys. This castle is where the real d'Artagnan, Charles de Batz de Castelmore, was born and spent his childhood and adolescence in the early 17th century.
The purchase of the chateau, with its dilapidated buildings and partial classification in 1933, was the subject of an improbable duel, all the more symbolic in that it pitted the private sector against the public sector. And it was the private bid, that of Yves Claude, CEO of Auchan Retail, who wanted to make it his personal residence while "restoring it to its former glory so that the public can rediscover its true value," that was endorsed by Gers' SAFER (Society for Property and Rural Establishment Management) on Friday, January 19.
This bid was preferred to that of the state-supported local authorities, for whom the château was the linchpin of a territorial, economic and tourism development project centered around the Gascon hero. Emotions ran high on the ground, particularly within the Autour de d'Artagnan organization, which was created under the authority of the Gers prefect and brings together all local operators involved in d'Artagnan's economic and cultural potential. In 2022, the Gers council had already made an unsuccessful bid for the site.
Bitterness
The dramatic twist came a year later, when its owner ordered SAFER to sell the chateau, with Yves Claude as a serious candidate. In the ensuing emergency, the local authorities put together a takeover plan led by the d'Artagnan en Fezensac community of municipalities, presided over by Les Républicains' Barbara Neto, with the support of MPs from the centrist Libertés, Indépendants, Outre-mer et Territoires (LIOT) and Renaissance parties, along with the Occitanie region and the departmental council (PS). It was an unprecedented political consensus in Gers. But SAFER's choice of the Auchan Retail CEO was endorsed by the government commissioners on January 19. Gone was the "grand plan." On site, the president of the community of municipalities expressed her bitterness, while wishing to "collectively write the next chapter of the adventure."
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