10 lost treasures that are still looking for today: the Tomb of Genghis Khan, the library of Ivan the Terrible, etc

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

From ancient times to the present day, countless stories and legends tell of priceless treasures from all over the world, lost without a trace. Some of them exist only in words, while others were found and made public not so long ago. But be that as it may, the lost treasures of the world are innumerable and many of them are of particular importance to history.

1. Tomb of Genghis Khan

The death of Genghis Khan is shrouded in mystery. The Great Khan died in the summer of 1227 while marching along the upper reaches of the Yellow River in Yinchuan. The true cause of his death remains unknown; it is logical to assume that he died from injuries sustained during the battle. Most likely, these wounds were not inflicted by an enemy arrow, as the Italian explorer Marco Polo suggested, but by a fall from a horse while hunting.

The mystery surrounding Genghis Khan's death gave rise to so much speculation, and later inspired an endless stream of apocryphal stories that can hardly be distinguished from pure fiction. Historians say that many years before his death, the great khan wished to be buried in an unmarked grave in the Burkhan Khaldun mountains in Mongolia. After the death of the great Mongol, his body was transported by soldiers to his homeland, where he was buried according to his request: without a mausoleum, without a temple, without a tombstone.

According to legends, every soldier who participated in the burial was killed in order to keep the burial place a secret. Other myths claim that loyal and loyal people released a thousand horses in the burial area in order to hide as closely as possible any signs of human activity and interference. This place has always been kept in the strictest confidence and even after centuries of research and excavation, it is still considered sacred to this day.

2. Treasures of the Knights Templar

The Knights Templar were one of the first and most famous religious military orders in Europe, founded in 1119. Its original goal was to support the new Kingdom of Jerusalem against its Muslim neighbors and to protect Christian pilgrims visiting holy places.

Over time, the Order has gained immense influence and wealth. Seeing the threat in the face of the Templars, Philip IV enlisted the support of the Pope to deal with them. In 1307, he arrested the most powerful knights and destroyed their treasury. However, it turned out to be empty. What is the Templar treasure and where it is hidden remains a mystery that has fascinated the world for seven centuries.

3. The Lost Dutchman

Many have probably heard of the Lost Dutchman Mine, located in the mountains of superstition near Phoenix, Arizona. The Lost Dutch Mine is supposedly a gold mine found by a powerful Mexican family in the early 1800s. Over the years, they mined as much gold as they could, keeping it a secret, until their last expedition ended with the death of almost the entire family, killed by the Apaches in the region.

The last person to allegedly see the mine was German immigrant Jakob Walzer, who found it in the late 1800s with his partner and hid some of the gold somewhere in the mountains. Until his death in 1891, he described the location of the mine to only one person - his neighbor, who had been courting him in his last days, yet many tried unsuccessfully to find him. In fact, the area and the treasure itself are currently considered cursed, as many who have tried to find them in the past have never returned.

4. Library of Moscow tsars

It is believed that the library of the Moscow tsars, otherwise known as the library of Ivan the Terrible as it disappeared after his death, contained a legendary collection of ancient books.

The lost library of the Russian Tsar Ivan the Terrible continues to be the main problem and an insoluble mystery for historians and archaeologists. The fact is that today there is no convincing evidence that it existed at all. The library consisted of about a thousand books, including unique masterpieces of Greek and Roman literature, inherited by the Russian Tsar from his grandmother Sophia, who originally brought the library to Moscow from Rome. …

The tsar, who gained fame as a cruel ruler, not only inherited the library, but also enriched it with rare manuscripts from all over Europe. The list included one hundred forty-two volumes of Titus Livy's History of Rome, of which only thirty-five are known today, the full version of Cicero's treatise De Re Publica, of which only small parts have survived to this day, and many other ancient manuscripts.

According to legend, Ivan the Terrible hid the collection somewhere in Moscow, but after his death in 1584, no one could say where it was and whether it existed at all. Can you imagine how much this would change history if one day this book burial was discovered?

5. Amber room

A symbol of both Russian and German masterpieces, the Amber Room was the pride and joy of the House of Romanov. She mysteriously disappeared during World War II and remains undiscovered to this day. And while Russian craftsmen and scientists are recreating this amazing place in the 21st century, the location of the original Amber Room continues to cause controversy among enthusiasts.

Peter the Great, the first Russian emperor who ruled from 1682 to 1721, is known for his love of curiosities. His collection of unusual and unique objects, or the so-called Kunstkamera, a room full of exceptional things - from minerals to deformed human embryos, continues to be exhibited in St. to make him an extraordinary gift. This is exactly what Frederick William I of Prussia did when he wanted to win the favor of Peter. In 1716, he presented the Russian Emperor with a room designed by the best Prussian Baroque architects and sculptures decorated with amber and gold. This was the famous Amber Room, which was later named the eighth wonder of the world for its stunning beauty.

During the reign of Adolf Hitler, Germany officially announced that many works of art from past centuries, including the room, had been stolen by the German people. According to Alfred Rohde, a German art critic who allegedly took care of the Amber Room after it was stolen, it even survived the heavy bombing of Königsberg in 1944, where it was allegedly kept. However, the Soviet troops, having captured the city, did not find a trace of it.

6. Ark of the Covenant

The Ark of the Covenant undoubtedly remains one of the most mystical objects mentioned in the Bible. Everyone remembers Spielberg's immortal classic Indiana Jones: In Search of the Lost Ark, where the brave Indiana Jones went through great adventures to discover a priceless artifact. But what exactly is the ark? According to the descriptions in the Bible, it was a chest of acacia wood with a golden casing, which symbolized the presence of God among people. Inside was kept a golden pot with heavenly manna, Aaron's rod and two tablets with God's commandments written on them, received by the prophet Moses on Mount Sinai.

The Ark was transported by the Jews to the Promised Land. Thanks to his supernatural powers, the people of Yahweh were invincible. The power of the ark dried up the Jordan River for the crossing of the Israelites and sent diseases to the Philistines, who dared to fight with God's chosen ones.

The ark continued to exist during the reign of King Josiah in the 7th century BC. It is believed to have been lost during the conquest of Jerusalem by the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar in 587 BC or earlier, since it was not mentioned among the relics and treasures looted from the Temple of Solomon. Obeying God's command, the Israelites never built the ark again, and its mystery remained irretrievably lost.

7. Faberge eggs for the Romanov family

Peter Carl Faberge was a Russian jeweler of French origin. He is known for the exceptional quality and beauty of his work, and especially for the popular Faberge eggs. The royal tradition of collecting Faberge eggs began with Tsar Alexander III, who in 1885 ordered a decorative Easter egg from the Faberge workshop as a gift to his wife, Empress Maria Feodorovna.

Having received the gift, Maria Feodorovna saw an ordinary egg made of white gold. But the emperor prepared a few surprises in the egg. Opening it, she found a golden yolk. Like a Russian nesting doll, the egg was full of surprises - the yolk opened, revealing a golden chicken with ruby eyes. Inside the golden chicken was a miniature copy of the imperial crown made of gold and diamonds, as well as a small ruby that the empress wore on a chain around her neck. This original egg remained in history under the name "Chicken".

From that day on, the crown obliged Faberge to make one egg a year for Alexander III until his death. This tradition was continued by his successor Nicholas II, who ordered a total of forty-four eggs.

The exact number of eggs remains unknown, as some of them were made for other wealthy Russian families. It is believed that there were about seventy of them in total, but the secret here is that eight of the royal eggs are missing. Each of the surviving Faberge eggs is worth millions of dollars, which means that the missing ones will cost even more.

8. Jewels of King John

King John of England (1166 - 1216) loved to collect jewelry and gold plates, and his collection was immeasurable. In 1216, the king traveled to Lynn in Norfolk in an area aptly named the swamp because it consisted of vast areas of dangerous swamps.

There, the king fell ill with dysentery and decided to return to Newark Castle for treatment. Of course, he chose the safe path, albeit a slower one, but his soldiers and carts full of jewelry, personal belongings and even crowns inherited from his grandmother, the Empress of Germany, took a short and dangerous path through the swamps.

There they disappeared. His treasure carriage was lost and was never found again. King John himself died a few days later, putting an end to this story. If you think about it, King John's treasure is often considered the greatest royal treasure in history. Whether it was really lost in the swamps or stolen by his own relatives is still a mystery.

9. The lost gold of the Incas

Many legends speak of the lost city of Paititi. According to some reports, it was here that the ancient Incas in despair hid their treasures from the Europeans during their invasion of South America. Due to the unknown location and legends surrounding the lost city, Paititi has become synonymous with the legendary Eldorado.

According to researchers, the Golden City is located in the jungle of Peru. During the search, many other settlements were found, in which clear information was found about the existence of Paititi.

Scientists and archaeologists are still tormented by the question of whether this city is the same legend as Eldorado, or maybe these two places are actually one and the same, and who knows, maybe soon an answer will appear on it.

10. The Copper Scrolls of the Dead Sea

At the northern tip of the Dead Sea near the city of Kalya, Palestine, is the Qumran archaeological site. It was here in 1946 that the Bedouin discovered the famous Dead Sea Scrolls. Later excavations of eleven caves by archaeologists have identified nine hundred and seventy-two texts of parchment and papyrus and two unusual copper scrolls, which are probably two parts of the same artifact.

The copper scroll in question was discovered in 1952 in the depths of cave number three and differs not only in material, but also in content. It turned out to be a detailed list of sixty-four places where a significant amount of gold and silver is allegedly hidden.

Unfortunately, there are no clues to the description of the places, so the mystery remains unsolved to this day. While many historians believe that some of the treasures may have been found by the Romans during their invasion of the region, it is reasonable to assume that at least some of these sites were never discovered.

Read also about what artifacts were found in 2020 and why some of them are still controversial.