Bordeaux (AFP)
Thirty-five years after their flight, the basilica of Saint-Michel of Bordeaux finds Sunday the last sculptures of alabaster of the XVth restituted at the end of a survey with twists, from Bordeaux to England via the United States, announced Friday the town hall.
"This is a small piece of our heritage, but it has a symbolic value," said AFP Fabien Robert, first deputy in charge of Culture, on the eve of a "reinstatement ceremony" works.
These four reliefs in polychrome alabaster, mass-produced in the 15th century in the region of Nottingham (Great Britain), have just joined, after cleaning and restoration, an altarpiece of nine panels representing scenes of the life of the Virgin, in the chapel St. Joseph of the church.
Their theft, then the investigation to find them, was "worthy of a spy novel", according to the town hall.
It all began in 1984 when thieves were repeatedly locked up in the basilica and stole seven alabaster bas-reliefs there. The perpetrators take care to replace the sculptures some 60 cm high by plaster copies.
The deception will only be discovered in 1993, when the widow of a Parisian antique dealer offers one of the original pieces to the state for the settlement of inheritance fees.
The police investigation, coupled with diplomatic steps, will locate three panels, made over the years, then four others who had integrated a private American collection before being resold to an English collector. A negotiation started in 2017 allowed their graceful restitution by their last British buyer.
Now sheltered behind glasses "Securit", the panels can be admired during strictly supervised visits because "there is no question of being stolen a second time," laughed the first assistant.
© 2019 AFP