21L.015 A Conflict of Interests III

21L.015 INTRODUCTION TO MEDIA STUDIES

CAVE PAINTING ON THE WEB
Tuesday 4 February 1997
Martin Roberts

A CONFLICT OF INTERESTS III: LAND

the French Ministry of Culture
the Coulanges family
Pierre Peschier, Sully Ollier, Henri Helly
lawyers
Jean-Pierre Ageron, socialist mayor of Vallon Pont d'Arc

October 1995 ->: the French State issues a writ of expropriation on the site of the cave.; The debate thus shifts to who the site belongs to, and the sum of the indemnity to be paid to the owner(s).; The land is claimed by the Coulanges family, who own the area at the entrance to the cave [exactly how much of it is contested], and Pierre Peschier, Sully Ollier, and Henri Helly, owners of the land above where the cave is situated. Under French law, a person who owns land also owns what's underneath it unless there's a coal-mine or an oil-field there.

the Ministry of Culture offers an indemnity of 25 [US 5 cents] centimes per square meter for the 10-hectare site: 30,000 FF [US $6,000]. the Coulanges's lawyer demands 740,000,000 FF [US $14m], those of the others around 74,000,000 [US $1.5m].

6 December 1995: the French Ministry of Culture launches an international call for proposals for the archeological study the Chauvet cave.

6 March 1996: the Jury responsible for evaluating proposals decides unanimously to award the project to... the French team, headed by... Jean Clottes, and Jean-Michel Geneste, curator of the cave at Lascaux. Work on the cave is not expected to begin before early 1998.
14 February 1997: French court ruling expected on the legal disputes about the indemnity for the cave.

n.d.

The Ardèche council plans an "espace de reconstitution" [replica], scheduled to open in 2000.
Futuroscope, a company in Poitiers, bids for the right to build it. Estimated price tag: c. 100,000,000 FF [US $20m]
300-400,000 tourists expected annually [based on Lascaux]

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