Maastricht municipality says excavation of possible D’Artagnan remains was illegal

In a letter to the municipal council, the municipality of Maastricht has said that digging up human remains in the Sint-Petrus-en-Pauluskerk in Wolder is illegal because the necessary permits were not obtained, and important scientific information is being lost, as researchers are still looking into whether the bones might belong to the French musketeer d’Artagnan.

In the letter, Maastricht said the work constituted an “illegal excavation” because no environmental permit was issued for ground disturbance inside the protected church. The Sint-Petrus-en-Pauluskerk has held national monument status since 1966, meaning any intervention in the soil requires formal approval under Dutch heritage law, including the Omgevingswet and Erfgoedwet.

The municipality further wrote in the letter that the excavation did not follow professional archaeological standards, resulting in a "significant loss of informational value."

Skeletal remains were discovered in the church in Wolder before March 5, 2026. The municipal heritage alderman was informally informed on March 2, 2026. By March 5, officials halted all work after confirming that excavation had taken place without prior approval in a protected monument.

The letter also states that during the early phase of the work, an upper arm bone and two teeth were removed outside standard heritage procedures and taken to the Institut für Rechtsmedizin at the Universität München in Germany.

Following the discovery, Maastricht said in the letter that it took over as competent authority, reported the situation to the Dutch Heritage Inspectorate, and coordinated further steps with the Rijksdienst voor het Cultureel Erfgoed. On March 9 it issued a Programma van Eisen to Stichting 6213 HL, setting conditions for a certified excavation team.

An emergency excavation was carried out on March 13 by BAAC-Archeologie in cooperation with Saxion University of Applied Sciences. That same evening, skeletal material was scanned at Maastricht University Medical Center+ (MUMC+).

Later in the investigation, handling of the remains became more contested. Sources involved in the case said bone material was heavily disturbed, in some cases handled with bare hands, and mixed in ways that complicated forensic analysis. Researchers now have to examine the remains bone by bone because fragments were not consistently recorded or separated during recovery, significantly complicating DNA research.

The skeleton is currently being analyzed by BAAC-Archeologie and Saxion University of Applied Sciences. The study includes ancient DNA testing to determine whether the bones might belong to d’Artagnan.

Earlier this month, tensions escalated when an archaeologist involved in the case refused to surrender recovered bones to authorities and instead kept them at an undisclosed location, citing distrust in the municipal process. He was briefly detained in connection with the incident.

The discovery gained public attention after it was announced on March 25 by the church in Wolder, drawing international interest due to the possible identification of the remains as those of d’Artagnan, a historical figure who served under French King Louis XIV and is widely known from Alexandre Dumas’ “The Three Musketeers.”