The mystery surrounding Rennes-le-Chateau (1 Viewer)

[Christopher P]

I hope this doesn't constitute a religious discussion..if so, my apologies.
Has anyone done any reading or investigating into the supposed treasure and possible related enigma surrounding Rennes-le-Chateau, France? There are books on the subject, including "Holy Blood, Holy Grail" by Michael Baigent, Henry Lincoln, Richard Leigh and several interesting and informative websites, including my favorite http://www.rennes-discovery.com. The story is also the framework for the 3rd Gabriel Knight video game if anyone is familiar with that.
The mystery involves a poor priest in a small village in France, Abbe Sauniere, who upon restoration in his church found documents that to the naked eye are full of secret codes. The Abbe soon came in to huge amounts of wealth and went on to reconstruct his church, with many odd symbols and statues. Nobody was ever quite sure where or how a poor priest acquired such a vast fortune, or why he reconstructed the church in the manner he did.
The treasure has been speculated as being the ancient plundered wealth of the Visigoths, the Romans, and others. The treasure may be the Holy Grail. And yet the treasure may also be in the form of knowledge, that of an ancient bloodline of Christ, indicating that he didn't in fact die in the cross, but survived and went on to produce offspring. The mystery goes back 2000 years, convoking the Knights Templar, the Freemasons, the Dead-Sea Scrolls, the Merovingians, and the Cathars.
The most haunting line for me in all this is spoken by the Abbe's housekeeper to her fellow villagers "You are walking on gold and don't even know it." Whatever she meant by this, she took to her grave.
Please discuss if you like or have anything to share or ask. And again I apologize if this violates forum rules.
Chris

 

[Joe D]

The only thing I've ever heard about it came from Gabriel Knight 3: Blood of the Sacred, Blood of the Damned, which was quite a game.

Any more information would be great!

 

[Christopher P]

The makers of Gabriel Knight 3 did their homework. The basics of the story (the treasure-hunters in the region and all their convoluted theories) and especially many of the renderings, the church, Tour Magdala, and other surrounding areas are right on. Obviously the game is in part fictional, especially the resolution, but it is loyal to the mystery and a great and fun introduction to it.

Chris