Nexus - 0304 - New Times Magazine-pages

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A SHORT HISTORY OF RENNES-LE- CHATEAU 4 ome 40 kilometres south of Cafcassonne is the tiny, Translated into English, it read: mountaintop village of Rennes-le-Chateau. Supposedly it was once the city of Rhedae, a stronghold of the Visigoths SHEPHERDESS, NO TEMPTATION, THAT in an.area now known as the Razes. Then, it boasted a popula- aa eg ee tion of some 30,000, but today this tumble-down hamlet houses POUSSIN, TENIERS, HOLD THE KEY; PEACE 681. no-more than a couple of hundred people, History had passed it BY THE CROSS AND THIS HORSE OF GOD, by until recently, but now it is a tourist attraction and the sub= T COMPLETE [or DESTROY] ject of a considerable number of books. The main theme is cen- THIS DAEMON OF THE GUARDIAN AT NOON. tred around the possibility that a great treasure was found there BLUE APPLES and that others have yet to be discovered: Z The area’certainly has a-colourful and. violent history, Romans, Visigoths, Cathars and Knights Templar, all with asso- Such;-apparently, was the importance of the discoveries that ciations of lost treasure, contribute to its intriguing past. Sauniére:was sent to Paris with the: blessing of the Bishop:of Careassonne, in. whom he had’confided. The precise purpose of this mission remains in considerable doubt, bul, while in Paris, Sauniére visited the Louvre where he allegedly acquired copies of three paintings. The significance:of one of these, in:particu= lar, became Clear as our investigation progressed. It would appear thal, on: his return to-Rennes-le-Chiteau, Saunitre became fabulously:rich, although the source of his wealth: is far from proven. It is a matter of record,-however, that he lived a life of-opulence and spent a large sum of money on:the:restoration of the church. In doing so, he filled it with controversial imagery, seemingly designed to desecrate the'very . faith which he represented. Considering the reference to Poussin in the hidden parchment © and the factthat one‘of the three paittings that the curé Sauniére had brought back to. Rennes-le-Chateau was Nicolas — Poussin's famous work, Les Bergers d'Arcadie (The Shepherds of Arcadia), Poussinwas:an obvious:target for investigation. The significance of the:painting was heightened when:it tran= spied that this work had been acquired by none other than the King of France, Louis XIV, whose interest was no doubt pre- cipitated by a strange letter which his Superintendent of - Finances, Nicolas Fouquet, received from his brother, the Abbé More recently, in 1885, a:certain priest, Bérenger Saunitre, Louis Fouquet, after the latter had met with Poussin in Rome. was appointed to the church of Rennes:le-Chatea (see photo In part, the letter read: above). At that time, the 800-year-old building. was badly in He and | discussed certain things, which U shall with ease be need of extensive restoration, but the impoverished priest was able to explain to you in detail—things which will give you, without funds to achieve this. Eventually, in 1891, asmaliloan through Monsieur Poussin, advantages which even kings would was arranged. have great.pains-to-draw. from him; and which, according to During. the subsequent process of:réstoration, one of the sup- Aim, it is possible that nobody else will ever rediscover in the porting stones of the altar was moved. It is said that'it-was hol- _— centuries.to come. And what is more, these are things so diffi- jow and:inside were found:documents, genealogical:charts.and ——_culr to.discaver that nothing now on this Earth can prove of bet- | Latin texts embodying such complex codes that itis:pethaps —_ter fortune nor be their equal. Surprising they were ever deciphered. However, the key to their Here one is immediately alerted to the possibility: of some= solution was eventually found on a gravestone in the. charch- thing far more’ profound than common: gold. Indeed, Poussin yard of Rennes-le-Chatcau. When the decoding was completed, was eventually to bea key player in'the mystery, and his worké, the solution. although in- plain language, was sull apparently particularly Les Bergers d’Arcadie, were found to contain-suffi- ° meaningless. It was in French and it read: cient evidence to prove that he was fully informed of the & advanced landscape geometry contained in: the area. BERGERE PAS DE TENTATION QUE Furthermore, it was obvious that he considered it to be of such POUSSIN TENIERS GARDENT LA CLEF great importance that it had to remain. coded to protect it from : PAX DCLXXXIPARLA CROIX ET CECHEVAL —_those who would wish to see it erased. DE DIEU ’ACHEVE A. detailed analysis of Poussin's paintings is given in our CE DAEMON DE GARDIEN A MIDI book, Geneset, but, even soca ay clue was-overlooked and it » POMMES BLEUES beeame necessary. to:publish ‘oussin's Secret, where the full © ; : i brilliance of his'work is finally revealed. lage of myste Sauniére (inset). 30 ¢ NEXUS JUNE-JULY 1996