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- The Château de La Barben in 2019,
before the disaster that befell and
its surroundings
Photo: La Tribune de l’Art - See the image in its page
In an article posted online yesterday on the Figaro website, the director of the Rocher Mistral theme park (whose co-shareholders are the Dassault, Michelin and Deniau [1] families) made a passionate appeal to the new French Minister of Culture, Rachida Dati.
By opposing her declared opponents, particularly on the left, who have launched a massive campaign against her appointment, he claims to represent "popular culture" "living, creative and rooted in the regions" against the "culture of ’l’entre soi’" to which the actress Anna Mouglalis belongs, whose outraged reaction to the announcement of the minister’s appointment made the rounds on social networks.
Even if there were two worlds of culture, one thing is certain: Vianney d’Alançon belongs to neither. Let’s not forget who the man is who is using this forum to praise the model he has set up at the Château de La Barben: a low-end theme park manager who has set up his park in a listed historic monument, ostensibly ignoring a number of codes, including those relating to heritage, the environment and town planning.
In 2021, we published a thirteen-part investigation on this affair, to which two other articles have since been added, the latest of which reports on the trial of Vianney d’Alançon and Rocher Mistral before the criminal court in Aix-en-Provence, with the verdicts expected on 13 February. Readers who want to understand exactly what we’re talking about are referred to it: the denaturing of a historic monument and its surroundings for the benefit of grotesque and historically flawed attractions. Popular culture, with all due respect to this gentleman, does not mean treating people with contempt by making them mistake bladders for lanterns, and a historic monument castle for a shabby fair.
Claiming to defend heritage when you have the record of Vianney d’Alançon - he even went so far as to create an association called Avenir Culture et Patrimoine! - is a bit like imagining Charles Bukowski (who at least had talent) creating an anti-alcohol league.
To claim, as he does, to be the spokesman for "regional grassroots players" is to insult the countless owners of historic monuments who fight every day to restore their heritage in compliance with the rules and laws that protect the legacy left to us by past centuries.
His column is not only an insult to them, it is also an insult to the intelligence of the new French Minister of Culture, whom he believes he can fool in this way.