Maribor Stories: “The Treasure” recounts an April Fools’ prank that spread from Maribor to newspapers around the world in 1931. On 1 April, journalist Adolf Šaup published a report in Mariborski večernik Jutra claiming that workers had discovered treasure while demolishing the birthplace of Vice Admiral Wilhelm von Tegetthoff at 10 Slovenska Street.
According to the invented report, workers found the admiral’s sword and a clay jug filled with Carthaginian gold coins. Readers were invited to view some of the treasure in a confectionery shop window on Rotovž Square. The prank took an unexpected turn on 19 April, when the Ljubljana newspaper Jugoslovan repeated the news without recognising the April Fools’ joke.
The tale spread across Europe and even reached the Chicago Tribune. Maribor's town hall also received a letter from Düsseldorf claiming that the admiral's descendants were entitled to the treasure. The story shows how a local newspaper joke became an international sensation.
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