Workers found 3 jars filled with bars and hundreds of gold coins in an old building that was undergoing restoration in a mountainous region in eastern France, according to the British newspaper, The Guardian.
The mayor of Moores, a small town in the Jura region near Switzerland, said, "The value of the discovery exceeded 600,000 euros (719,000 dollars)."
Municipal employees first found 3 jars of gold bars and coins worth 500,000 euros "behind a dusty shelf", then opened a safe hidden behind boxes in a "wardrobe" and found up to 150,000 euros in gold coins.
Mayor Laurent Petit said that the three-storey building in the center of town was inhabited by four siblings without children.
When the last person died and he was in his 90s last year, a relative offered to sell the building to the city council for 130,000 euros.
The municipality of Moores, like many other regions in France, seeks to buy and renovate old buildings to attract families back to live in them.
