Vast 'mafia' riches of the
Great Chest of Poitrine

TOUR, sited as it is on a massive and lofty outcrop of rock at the the confluence of two rivers, is well protected from attack, which is undoubtedly why the Roman general Maximus Potrinus chose it as a base for his legions.
When the Romans were finally driven out, the encampment was taken over by the tribal leader Togodubnus, founder of  the Tournesse dynasty.  As barons and then as dukes the family ultimately became the longest established aristocratic line in Europe.
The present head of the family, Robert Tournesse, Duke of Poitrine, is a youthful and energetic champion of tourism in Tour.  He is also a socialist and he makes no bones about his family's murky past.
"My family line owes its longevity to money, and most of the money was stolen.  In the early days of aristocracy there was really no difference between an aristocrat and a mafioso.
 "The Crusades gave us a wonderful opportunity to get rich.  One of my ancestors, the fifth baron went down the Danube by raft in 1095 to get to the First Crusade.
 "He was quite poor when he set out but he came back overland with a hundred horses and camels loaded with loot. 
"That was the beginning of our real family fortune."
 The fifth baron, Tristan, and his wife, Iseult, devised an extraordinary method of protecting their wealth.  At first their ill-gotten gains were guarded continuously by 200 men until a new castle had been built - a task that took seven years.
  The castle includes a room called the Long Gallery, where the present duke holds his balls and dances. Along one side of the gallery - which is more than 125 metres long -  the fifth  baron constructed  an iron chest 82

cms deep with a hinged iron lid measuring 82 cms by the entire length of the gallery, the so-called Great Chest of Poitrine. It has been calculated that the lid - the metal is over two centimetres thick - weighs over six tons.  It was produced by riveting together a series of metal slabs to make one continuous whole.
The lid can be lifted only by a hundred men acting in unison, which makes bolts, locks and bars unnecessary. 
Until the 1920s the family's immense wealth continued to be stored in the Great Chest, which was ceremonially opened only once a year, at the start of the town's annual midsummer festival - then promptly closed again after a few photos and a speech by the incumbent duke.
All that changed in 1927.  Robert's grandfather made a permanent loan of his most important  treasures to the Louvre, where they can still be seen today. 
Many other items went to auction, to be converted into conventional investments that were deemed a better way of protecting the family's interests and ensuring the survival and proper maintenance of the castle.
This autumn, and every autumn, a hundred local citizens will raise the lid of the Great Chest at a word of command from the duke.  It will not be empty.
It will contain 5,000 bottles of wine from the previous year's vintage, to be sold - and drunk - at a grand fete held in the castle grounds.  The money raised will go to local charities.
For several years, most of the money has gone to help victims of the collapse of the truffle market.  This year things are looking up. 
Only a handful of unemployed citizens of Tour are now relying on the castle charity.