Apparently this odd work has aroused a good deal of interest, particularly among those people who love historical puzzles and look for hidden or occult meanings in virtually everything from the past. The "treasure" of Rennes-le-Chateau, a remote village in south-west France, has become a minor myth, the source of a small tourist industry there. It seems that the local parish priest of a century ago, the Abbe Berenger Sauniere, aroused much comment by what appeared to be a sudden acquisition of wealth, and some people believed that he had secretly extracted treasure from a tomb or ancient hiding place. When he came under censure from his bishop he appealed to the Vatican, which apparently accepted his explanation. Based mainly on this small footnote to history, the authors have gone through a rigmarole of inscriptions, archaeology, geometrical diagrams (involving paintings by Teniers and Poussin), religious arcana and scraps of genuine history to reach a conclusion of quite exceptional implausibility.
B.F.