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The French general: treasure

Three friends unearthed a mysterious chest buried next to St Catherine’s church. In it, they found treasure belonging to a French general, who buried it here before setting off to war.

A double door, a walnut tree, another tree, three steps, one step in front of the church, one into the porch, one into the church . . . Who succeeded in solving this riddle and finding the treasure?

Audio guide
Intersting facts

What you can see at this point

A mysterious chest buried by St Catherine’s

In the autumn of 1860 three friends from Kanal set off on a treasure hunt armed with a compass and a list of instructions. So that no one would follow them, they told the locals that they had come to the village to buy oxen. Near the church they found a chest containing precious jewels and 70,000 florins.

The French general’s treasure

The treasure was said to have been buried there in 1812 by a French general before going off to the war. One version of the story tells how he confided his hiding place to his sweetheart, who then revealed the location of the treasure to the three friends – in exchange for pearls, while the trio of friends kept the chest with the money.

Treasure hunters

The story of the treasure chest caused great excitement among the local population and many people came to try their own luck at finding any bits of treasure that the original trio might have overlooked. All these treasure hunters returned home empty-handed, leaving behind them the holes they had dug around the church. Look carefully at the ground beneath your feet: perhaps you will find some lost piece from the French general’s treasure chest!