92 works of art stolen more than a decade ago are on display at a castle in Pas de Calais

The story seems incredible. On Wednesday, May 22, police announced that a search had uncovered a large number of works of art (at least 92, according to new information released on Thursday, May 23) that were stolen between 2009 and 2013 from the vaults of the Sandelin Museum in Saintes -Omer, Pas-de-Calais (Hautes-France), as well as from nearby churches. But the most intriguing thing is the place where they were found: sixty kilometers from the city - they are exhibited in a castle open to the public.

The missing objects were discovered by a ceramics enthusiast who, while visiting the castle of Sercamps in Frevin (Pas-de-Calais), noticed a ceramic barometer base that he knew belonged to the Sandelin Museum, with which he immediately contacted. Then the curator of the museum, Romain Saffre, went to the site and, to his surprise, discovered that many objects and works - paintings, figurines, medallions, porcelain and an old fan - that decorated the castle bore a striking resemblance to those that had disappeared from the museum’s storerooms. This disappearance was discovered during an inventory carried out in 2013. The city of Saint-Omer then filed a complaint and the police investigation accelerated.

200 works still not found

The most valuable treasure found was presented on May 23, along with seven other items, at a press conference led by museum curator Sandelin: a “magnificent 18th-century gilded bronze box” decorated with “extremely finely painted miniature scenes” and valued at several hundred thousand. Euro.

A man suspected of involvement in the theft has been arrested, and the investigation (joined by an officer from France’s Central Office for Combating Illicit Trafficking in Cultural Property) continues. So far, 46 works and objects have been returned to the museum and the churches of Saint-Sépulcre and Saint-Denis, also located in Saint-Omer. According to curator Romain Saffre, of the 280 items missing from the vaults of the Sandelin Museum and nearby churches, about 200 are still missing.

At Serkamp Castle they say they know nothing about the theft and are waiting for the investigation to take its course. The listed building, set in 33 hectares of parkland, is described on the website as a former Cistercian abbey (before the French Revolution), which then became a wool weaving mill, the residence of the Furman barons and the headquarters of Marshal Foch in 1915. Its grounds and twenty furnished and decorated rooms, including the "Foch’s bedroom" and several drawing rooms, some with antique wood paneling, are open to the public from 1 May to 30 September.

The owner is Serge Dufour (born 1955), guide and history buff. He bought the castle in 2012 with his partner Patrick Bertreux (who died in 2021) and gradually restored it, becoming the subject of several articles in the local press.

At the end of 2021, actu.fr published an article describing the “daily struggle” of this castle owner (who, although in photographs he looks like Serge Dufour, goes by the strange name Eric Du Four), his “priesthood” and his “ not a very easy life,” the life of a passionate person engaged in a “non-profitable” business, who “sheds blood” for “preserving the heritage” - maintaining the castle costs 50,000 euros every year, which is not always covered by 3,500 annual visitors. “Through a series of transactions, loans and donations, Eric Du Four has managed to restore the charm of yesteryear to many of the rooms, which are decorated with 18th-century elements,” says the caption to that article.