Mysterious 400-year-old cache of ancient treasure found hidden crammed inside leg of STATUE in church

Date: 2025-01-15
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Three gold coins on an old letter next to a photo of a church.

A HUGE “fortune” of 400-year-old treasure has been found crammed inside the leg of a statue in a church.

Restoration workers found four “bulging” bags of golden coins concealed inside a stone cavity when they were working on a famous Gothic church in Germany.

The epitaph statue inside which the coins were hidden[/caption]
A statue of Martin Luther, Protestant reformer, who delivered his final sermons at the church

Instead, the cash is “the collected income from special services provided by the pastors,” such as weddings, baptisms and funerals.

Pastors also collected money from “chair fees,” when would pay for the best seats in church, he said.

During the Thirty Years’ War Swedish troops plundered the area around Eisleben as often as every week, so anything valuable had to be concealed.

Locals were forced to give the Swedish troops accomodation and food, and pay them vast sums of money, Dräger sai.

He added: “Eisleben lost around half of its population between 1628 and 1650.

“[It was] a picture of constant war horror.”

What was the Thirty Years' War?

THE Thirty Years’ War was a series of highly-destructive conflicts fought in Europe between 1618 and 1648.

The fighting was primarily between Protestant and Catholic states.

The Protestant Reformation began 1517, which led to a build up of religious tensions around the continent.

Ferdinand II became the emperor of Rome in 1619 and attempted to force Roman Catholicism on his subjects across the empire.

The war began as a religious conflict, but became more political as foreign powers intervened.

It ultimately sucked in many of the great powers of Europe, including Spain, Austria, England, Denmark, the Dutch Republic, and Sweden.

It resulted in millions of deaths through fighting as well as widespread famine and disease.

The war ended with the Peace of Westphalia in 1648, which established religious and political boundaries in Europe.

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