French Heritage Law Closes Dutch-Run War Museum

Why this is here: Lonely Planet included Romagne 14-18 in a guidebook featuring Europe’s best-kept secrets, attracting tens of thousands of visitors annually—from students to government officials.

In northern France, Jean-Paul de Vries’s museum, Romagne 14-18, will close after twenty years. The Dutch-French collector amassed a large private collection of First World War remnants near the village of Romagne-sous-Montfaucon. France’s strengthened heritage laws now classify war remnants as national heritage.

The French customs service seized roughly 25,000 objects from de Vries’s museum last October. Officials, with a team of forty, dismantled the collection housed in a converted barn.

De Vries initially gathered items within a five-kilometer radius of his home, a practice that became his museum’s signature. He rebuilt parts of the museum with remaining items, marking seized spaces with red and white tape.

Jurist Marie Cornu of the CNRS explains the 2016 law designates anything archaeologically valuable found on French soil as state property. De Vries never formally registered his collection, relying on years of tacit acceptance from local authorities.

An investigation into the origin of the seized items is underway, potentially leading to legal action. The museum will give a final farewell to visitors before closing this summer.