Raúl Schüler, the collector who built his own Versailles in Rancagua with stolen works



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"Schüler", in German, means "collegiate", but the behavior of the agricultural entrepreneur Raúl Schüler (Santiago, 1944) is far from being an example for schoolchildren.

In his farm "La Punta" of the Municipality of San Francisco de Mostazal, 40 hectares, the police discovered this month statues stolen from 2003, in places as diverse as the square Valparaíso, the Santa Lucía Hill, San Francisco Church and Santiago General Cemetery, in addition to archaeological pieces and weapons.

Schüler had grape pits on this site and worked a package . "We saw the statues, but we had never imagined that they had been stolen," says a worker working on the site. "But it is good, at Christmas, he celebrated the children of the workers," he adds.

Next formalization

The truth is that this 74-year-old businessman is in trouble. The Regional Prosecutor's Office of Rancagua plans to formalize it in December or January in front of the Attic Guarantee Court for violation of the National Monuments Act and the Arms Control Act.

The Ministry of Cultures will be part of the cause, according to its owner Consuelo Valdés.

"A trial will be launched in the coming days against the perpetrators of crimes of theft and reception of cultural property protected by the law on monuments, nationals," he added.

He also announced that a bill would be introduced in Congress to update the law and incorporate the figure of "illicit trafficking of badets, increase penalties for property damage and create a national inventory", did he declare. highlighting the diligent action of the PDI

The case was denounced in a television reportage of journalist Emilio Sutherland of channel 13 [194590]. 05] who has been criticized on social networks for not identifying the entrepreneur in his rating.

The Little Versailles

According to a source of the parquet floor, the farm "is inspired by the Palace of Versailles., Surrounded by gardens and lagoons with exotic birds", alluding to the royal gardens of the 17th century castle located near from Paris.

The play that led to the PDI's Environmental and Cultural Crime Brigade (The Metropolitan Republic) was "La República", a Valparaiso statue dating from 1860, located in Rubén Darío Square in Playa Ancha. , in Val d'Osne, the same foundry where the virgin of Cerro San Cristóbal was made. . Its weight – nearly 200 kilos – suggests that its flight was well planned, according to the historian Archibaldo Peralta in Channel 13 .

Police drew his attention to an article in local electronic media . ] Diario Independencia who reviewed – in an August note – the farmhouse and its statues. As a result, he contacted the Office of the Prosecutor and a search was conducted. Schüler was not arrested on the estate because he was not there.

In this case, the businessman is represented by his lawyer, Sergio Bellemans, who has an office in Rancagua. During the afternoon of Monday, this means was communicated several times to this office, but he was informed that it was not in its place. He did not return the call either

Agricultural Entrepreneur

The truth is that Schüler has been linked to the campaign for a long time. The National Society of Agriculture itself has confirmed to this media that the entrepreneur was a member of the entity until at least 1995.

"He has horses, but they are not very competitive," says a source who knows him closely. "But it's cool, I can not imagine that he's a thief," he said.

Ricardo Fernández's Facebook site "Casas Patrimoniales de Chile" highlighted Schüler's estate for his "dream park". He also recounted the Jesuit origin of his property, which dates back to 1750, and which, in the late nineteenth century, was in the hands of the family of Roberto Lyon.In 1890, they decided to entrust the construction from the patronal house to the architect Alberto Cruz, as well as a park designed by the architect Jorge Dubois.

Schüler had acquired the estate in the second half of the twentieth century, according to this publication, and also took charge of its "wonderful restoration" after its decline in the 1950s.

"Congratulations to its owner, Raúl Schüler Gatica, for saving and enhancing the national heritage." He has spent years in restore this house and the park, alhajando the house with period furniture and keeps it in an admirable state, "said the site at the time. "People like him are indispensable in Chile, thank you Raúl."

After spreading the illicit origin of several statues, the site said that "it will not take any stand against this fact as long as the courts will not rule." Mr. Shuler ( sic ) has some degree of culpability. "

" If we are guilty, we will delete the publications we have published concerning this farmer, "he added. site. 19659002] "For us and the courts of Chile, a person is guilty only when the court of the Republic has proved the fraud.Before that, the accused was innocent.In this case, Mr. Shuler ( sic ) is not even charged. "

Photo: Tomás Domínguez

The statue of the cemetery

" He did not make an official statement ", Prosecutor Sergio Moya said, adding that he was contacting your lawyer with "He will be called upon to provide statements" to explain the origin of the case.

"We are obviously interested in the complete chain, from the author of the subtraction, to the intermediaries, to the amounts involved and to the people who acquire them, private collections," he said.

In addition, he indicated that he could not give an amount of the amount seized because it was necessary for them to implement a series of specialized skills. However, he pointed out that the circuit is small, that it involves large sums of money and that it usually works "on order"

According to sources from the prosecutor's office At least seven of the seized statues come from the Santiago General Cemetery. The architect Tomás Domínguez, who denounces since 2006 the looting of the cemetery, claims that he suffered at least 30 robberies.

Domínguez is certain that at least one of the statues comes from the cemetery. More specifically, it was stolen in November 2013 from the grave of Venancio Vicuña, as he had himself denounced before the PDI.

The specialist badures that it is very characteristic marble pieces, which, because of their exposure to the outside, have a

"They date from the second half of Nineteenth century, while in Chile there was virtually no sculptor, imported from Italy Carrara marble, "he says.

Is it possible that someone has all these parts without knowing it? its illicit origin?

"No, zero percent luck," Domínguez responds. "I think it's quite the opposite, a demonstration of power and privilege that confers the power to be robbed of things in such important public places, and do it with impunity, it's a a privilege we can boast of on this side, "he says.


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