My mother’s castle will soon be without a Pagnol within its walls. Real name Château de la Buzine, it was managed by the grandson of Marcel Pagnol (who had bought the castle in 1941), Nicolas. According to Le Figaro, Jean-Marc Coppola, assistant to the culture of the town hall of Marseille, announced to him on Wednesday that his contract would not be renewed.
“The town hall of Marseille fires us to replace us with a workers’ association whose core business is the management of social centers and has no experience in cultural facilities,” says Nicolas Pagnol to our colleagues from Figaro. “They are going to transform this mythical place of Provençal heritage into a Maison de Quartier. […] It is a key place for all Provençals. This castle symbolizes their language, their culture, their heritage. It is the intellectual heritage of Provence that they are going to destroy. It’s absurd,” he said.
For his part, Jean-Marc Coppola is trying to put out the start of the fire: “The town hall has assured the Pagnol family that the heritage of Marcel Pagnol will be preserved. I deny any desire to change the purpose of the castle. »
Still, the file of the future tenant association of the castle, the Center for Working Culture (CCO), will be presented at the municipal council on June 30. Will it be able to provide current services? Nicolas Pagnol recalls: “Our workshops attract 13,000 children a year, from schools and social centers, all our exhibitions have been successful and our pricing policy is more than reasonable. »
The vice-president of the Pagnol association at the Château de la Buzine – and assistant to the cinema of La Ciotat – is not angry: “The creation of a very rich tourist circuit around the cinema between La Ciotat, Marseille, Marignane with the museum Raimu, the studios in Martigues is in progress. Marseille with the Château de la Buzine – which was the place chosen by Marcel Pagnol for his Cité du Cinéma – had every interest in being at the heart of this journey. »
Nicolas Pagnol has launched a petition on the Internet to put pressure on the town hall. He also plans to file an administrative appeal.
