Case of the missing angels from the basilica of Nantes: towards a trial for breach of trust

Le Figaro Nantes

Yesterday as today, eight musical angels watch over the center of Nantes from the heights of the Saint-Nicolas basilica.

But this vigil does not go back to the depths of the ages.

Against all expectations, the figures who enhance this 19th century monument with their golden silhouette have been keeping watch for less than twenty years at the top of its spire.

Older protectors preceded them in this position - before disappearing under strange circumstances.

It was in 2009. Fifteen years later, a person involved in the dispersal of the angels from the basilica should appear in court.

She has neither the profile of an Arsène Lupin, nor that of a real prankster.

This is a contractor who was involved in the last major restoration of the monument.

The man in question will be judged on July 4 at the Nantes criminal court for “breach of trust,”

the public prosecutor, Renaud Gaudeul, told Le

In 2009, the defendant was at the head of a company in the Nantes region responsible for dismantling angels.

The operation was then part of a major restoration campaign for this neo-Gothic building, classified since the 1980s as a historic monument.

Once removed, these original 2.5 meter high lead statues were cast to create gilt bronze reproductions intended to replace them at the top of the basilica.

Then, these approximately 150-year-old seraphim flew away and fell into oblivion.

And ended up landing in the hands of the Nantes entrepreneur.

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19,000 euros at auction

The police investigation carried out by the Departmental Directorate of Public Security is revealed in the fall of 2022: it turns out that the man had freely seized these statues, designed by the architect of the basilica Antoine Lassus - a close friend of Eugène Viollet-le-Duc.

Placed in police custody in September, the contractor admitted the facts and declared to the police that he considered these parts to be part of

and that he thus imagined himself free to dispose of them as he saw fit. seemed.

In this case, the angels were sold at a high price and then dispersed at the discretion of the art market.

It was only an auction which, in 2020, ended up alerting the services of the Regional Directorate of Cultural Affairs (Drac) of Pays de la Loire: the specimen must then go under the hammer with a fixed starting price at 19,000 euros.

Two years of investigation were necessary to find traces of this ensemble.

One of these seraphic trumpeters ended up in a Spanish collection.

Others were sold to individuals: here, a notary;

there, an artist... Even the company responsible for creating the reproductions which today overlook the basilica had offered itself one of the eight angels of Saint Nicholas.

All were initially dispersed by the entrepreneur now targeted by legal proceedings.

This does not change anything for the basilica - since the reproductions are in place and will not move.

For me, my angels, they are there

Father Loïc Le Huen, priest of the Saint-Nicolas basilica

The file is being closely monitored by the City of Nantes, owner of the basilica and its listed furniture - otherwise inalienable.

A missing angel has already been recovered by investigators.

, the municipality simply comments, adding that

.

According to our colleagues from

, the return of the other angels could however take a long time.

Some of their current owners would oppose the free restitution of these hard-won goods.

This dispute should be decided

at the Nantes administrative court.

So many procedures that the priest of the Saint-Nicolas basilica, Loïc Le Huen, observes from afar.

,” he confides to Le

simply noting that

Does he still have hope of seeing the angelic swarm reappear in his parish?

The priest shrugs his shoulders.