The Templars' Treasure

A treasure of the Knights Templar, who owned the castle in the time of King Václav II, is supposedly walled up underground. In 1304, according to J.Gallaš, the Grand Master Jacques de Molay himself chaired a general gathering of the order here. It is said that, at his instigation, the Templars tricked their way into possession of Prince Břetislav's treasure: twelve silver statues brought from Poland and until then kept at Tišnov Monastery. They hid them somewhere beneath Veveří Castle, where the treasure was forgotten after the order's dissolution. In 1782 lightning struck the castle tower opposite the Church of the Mother of God and knocked down a metal finial shaped like a peacock. Supposed Templar documents found inside confirmed that the treasure was at the castle. A quatrain at the end of the inventory read: 'Now the peacock keeps the treasure; when the day is shortest in measure; when the clock shows fifteen complete, the peacock's tail stands on its seat.' This is explained to mean that the shadow of the metal peacock's tail points to the hiding place after sunrise on the winter solstice,21 December. The old Bohemians counted the hours from sunset. The castle's owner at the time, Prosper of Sinzendorf, had the treasure sought according to the manuscript. The workmen found underground vaults with metal coffins said to belong to Templars, but no treasure.