 A simultaneous request to excavate the church met with refusal from the "Directions Régionales des Affaires Culturelles" (or DRAC), the archaeological body of France.In the 1950s and 1960s, the entire area around Rennes-le-Château became the focus of sensational claims involving Blanche of Castile, the Merovingians, the Knights Templar, the Cathars, and the treasures of the Temple of Solomon (booty of the Visigoths) that included the Ark of the Covenant and the Menorah (the Jerusalem Temple's seven-branched candelabrum).Since the 1970s, the area's associations have extended to the Prieuré de Sion, the Rex Deus, the Holy Grail, ley lines, sacred geometry, the remains of Jesus Christ, including references to Mary Magdalene settling in the south of France, and even flying saucers.