In 1930s there was a potato shop here in Lilla Nygatan 5. During renovation works the construction workers found a whole fortune buried under the floor – 18,000 silver coins and over 80 other silver objects. This is the largest treasure ever found in Sweden, and its value today would be around 10 million EUR. The coins were about 200 years old so they must have been buried here in mid 18th century, but no one knows who did it and why. Timing suggests that the treasure belonged to Lohe family that lived in this house at the time and was one of the richest ones in the country. The treasure is therefore known as Lohe treasure.
The coins are now on display at the Royal Coin Cabinet (Kungliga Myntkabinettet), the potato shop is long gone and the building houses a hotel and a luxury restaurant. Some say, if you visit the hotel restaurant you can see the hole in the ground where the treasure was found but we haven’t checked.
There is another historic relic in this building – the remains of the city defense wall and Lion Tower (Lejontornet) dating back to the 14th century. One can see them in the hotel’s breakfast and conference room.
