The fire that partly destroyed the Château du Grand-Serquigny in the Eure region (France) on Saturday was a tragedy. But once again, it is a tragedy that could have been avoided: all the conditions were in place for it to happen, and as usual it all happened under the watchful eyes of a French Ministry of Culture that is not fulfilling its missions. Whatever the cause of the fire, the state it represents has failed on many occasions.
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- 1. Château du Grand-Serquigny, old postcard
Photo: Wikimedia (public domain) - See the image in its page
First of all, it should be noted that this monument was only partially listed ("inscrit"): only the facades and roof of the château, as well as the two entrance pavilions, the moat, the dovecote and the "great alley and [the] prairies that extend in front of the two main facades" were.
A glance at the photographs of the monument shows that it should have been "classé", not just "inscrit" [1], and that it should have been protected in its entirety, not just in part. This practice of protecting facades and roofs alone is now rarely used; it is preferred to be comprehensive. However, the Ministry of Culture has never considered the question of of updating the overall levels of protection.
As for the classement for this monument, short of doing so automatically, it would still have required the authorisation of all the owners, of whom there are currently around forty...
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- 2. The Château du Grand-Serquigny in flames on 31 December 2023
Photo: SDIS 27/Préfecture de l’Eure - See the image in its page
Because - and this is the biggest scandal - this château had been the subject of a property and tax operation to convert it into flats. In a nutshell, the government authorises and even encourages the conversion of châteaux into flats, giving owners the opportunity to deduct the work carried out on them from their tax bill. On the pretext of saving the French heritage, we are actually destroying it. The work was carried out before 2009, when authorisation was required from the Direction régionale des affaires culturelles (DRAC), an authorisation that is no longer required since 2017. Any historic monument castle can thus be cut into pieces, and all the more so if the interior is not protected (or only partially protected), since the work does not require Ministry supervision. Take the terrible example of the Château de Pontchartrain (see l’article).
The developer (Financière Barbatre) did not carry out any work on the château, and was subsequently placed in receivership and liquidation. The owners had therefore never been able to occupy the main building; however, they had benefited from the tax deduction and were now prepared, for those whom the Town Hall had been able to contact, to sell their share to it for a symbolic one euro! As the mayor confirmed to us, the château was not in ruins, out of water and out of air. It was, however, abandoned, and although it was not squatted, strictly speaking, it had been visited on several occasions (in particular to steal the copper parts). The first and top floors had been extensively transformed over time, but the ground floor still, unprotected, had some old features.
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- 3. The Château du Grand-Serquigny after the fire
Photo: Préfecture de l’Eure - See the image in its page
For three years, the Town Hall had been trying to recover this monument. But only the State could carry out an expropriation. Because what does the Heritage Law say? That "The administrative authority may [...] proceed, on behalf of the State, with the expropriation of a building already "classé" as a historic monument or subject to classification proceedings, on the grounds of the public interest it offers from the point of view of history or art". It is true that local authorities can also expropriate, but only if the monument is "classé". As this monument is not, only a "classement d’office", the responsibility of the Ministry of Culture, could allow this. What did the Ministry of Culture do? Nothing, of course.
As the moat bridge was not strong enough to allow the fire engines to pass (obviously, as no work had been carried out!), they were unable to intervene in good conditions, as they could have done by fighting the flames with a large ladder and, by "doing the fire’s share", saving the central and east wings. The damage was all the greater...
Everything about this fire, whatever its cause (probably a temporary and illegal occupation of the premises), points to the immense responsibility of the Ministry of Culture and the State. And all with taxpayers’ money. It is essential that, as requested by the Sites & Monuments association (see this article), we return as a matter of urgency to the requirement for approval from regional cultural affairs departments for tax exemption schemes involving historic monuments. Such operations should be banned on châteaux, with only those monuments that are unlikely to suffer from such a division into lots being able to benefit in certain cases (for example, parts of abbeys that were once monks’ lodgings or barracks)... This should remain the exception and be subject to special monitoring.
So what’s going to happen to the Château du Grand-Serquigny? Despite the concern we felt when we spoke to the mayor, Frédéric Delamarre, we sensed that he was very determined to save it. The first step will be to consolidate the walls. Then rapidly proceed with an expropriation for the benefit of the municipality, in parallel with a classification. And for the town hall to receive general support (from the Ministry of Culture, foundations, etc.).
As for the Minister of Culture, she knows what she has to do: enshrine in the Heritage Code strict limits on these tax-free operations that destroy heritage.