They were fantastic examples of luxuriousness , decadence , and lustre . People marvel at their beauty , slobber over their excess , and cowered at their power . And now they ’re gone .
But where are they ? And what happened to them ? Explore our list of six of the world ’s greatestmissing treasure . We ’ll start with one that would be deserving an estimated $ 142 million today .
1. The Amber Room
Described as the 8th wonder of the human beings by those who see to it it , the Amber Room is certainly the most unparalleled missing treasure in account .
It was an 11 - foot - straight foyer consisting of large paries control panel inlaid with several tons of marvelously design amber , large gold - leaf - edged mirrors , and four magnificent Florentine mosaic . Arranged in three tier up , the gold was inlay with cute jewels , and methamphetamine show cases put up one of the most worthful collection of Prussian and Russian artwork ever assembled .
produce for Prussia ’s King Friedrich I and given to Russian tzar Peter the Great in 1716 , it was located at Catherine Palace , near St. Petersburg . Today , the Amber Room would be valued at more than $ 142 million .
When Adolf Hitler turned his Nazi warfare car toward Russia , the keeper of the Amber Room get nervous . They seek to move it , but the gold start out to break down , so they seek to cover it with wallpaper . They were abortive and when the Nazis stormed Leningrad ( formerly called St. Petersburg ) in October 1941 , they exact it and put it on presentation in Königsberg Castle during the remaining warfare years .
However , when Königsberg give up in April 1945 , the fabled gem was nowhere to be found . The Amber Room was never seen again . Did the Soviets inadvertently ruin their own treasure with bombs ? Was it hidden in a now lost subterranean dugout outside the city ? Or was it destroyed when Königsberg Castle burn presently after the city surrendered ?
We ’ll probably never experience for certain . But luckily for lover of opulence , the Amber Room has been fastidiously revive and is on display in Catherine Palace .
2. Blackbeard’s Treasure
The famouspirateBlackbeard only drop about two years ( 1716 - 1718 ) plunder the gamey sea . Within that time , however , he compile some serious wealth . While the Spanish were meddling find all the atomic number 79 and silver they could extract from Mexico and South America , Blackbeard and his mates wait patiently , then pounced on the treasure - laden ships as they sail back to Spain .
Blackbeard evolve a fearsome reputation as a brutal and vicious opportunist . His sovereignty of terror center around the West Indies and the Atlantic coast of North America , with military headquarters in both the Bahamas and North Carolina . His end come in November 1718 , when British Lieutenant Robert Maynard decapitated the pirate and cling his head from the bowsprit of his ship as a grim trophy .
But what come about to the immense treasure that Blackbeard had amassed ? He acknowledged bury it but never disclosed the location . But that has n’t stopped countless hoarded wealth hunters from trying to get their hands on it .
Blackbeard ’s sunken ship , Queen Anne ’s Revenge , is believed to have been discovered near Beaufort , North Carolina , in 1996 , but the loot was n’t onboard . potential position for the hidden stash let in the Caribbean Islands , Virginia ’s Chesapeake Bay , and the cave of the Cayman Islands .
3. Treasures of Lima
In 1820 , Lima , Peru , was on the edge of revolt . As a preventative mensuration , the Limenitis archippus of Lima adjudicate to transmit the city ’s mythic wealth to Mexico for safekeeping . The hoarded wealth included jeweled stones , candlesticks , and two life - sizing solid gold statue of Mary apply the infant Jesus . In all , the gem filled 11 ship and was valued at around $ 60 million .
Captain William Thompson , commander of theMary Dear , was put in heraldic bearing of transporting the riches to Mexico . But the viceroy should have done some research on the man to whom he hand such mythologic riches because Thompson was a pirate , and a ruthless one at that . Once the ship were well out to sea , he turn out the throats of the Peruvian sentry duty and threw their bodies overboard .
Benjamin Thompson headed for the Cocos Islands , in the Indian Ocean , where he and his man allegedly inter the hoarded wealth . They then resolve to split up and lie down low until the situation had chill out down , at which clock time they would reconvene to divvy up the spoils .
But theMary Dearwas captured , and the gang went on trial for piracy . All but Thompson and his first better half were hang . To save their lives , the two concord to go the Spanish to the steal gem . They took them as far as the Cocos Islands and then managed to escape into the jungle . Thompson , the first mate , and the treasure were never seen again .
Since then more than 300 expedition have tried – unsuccessfully – to locate the treasures of Lima . The most late hypothesis is that the gem was n’t inter on the Cocos Islands at all but on an unknown island off the coast of Central America .
On the next Sir Frederick Handley Page , you will get the Pharaohs ' missing treasure .
4. Pharaohs' Missing Treasure
When Howard Carter base the tomb of Tutankhamen in Egypt ’s Valley of the Kings in 1922 , he was mesmerized by the splendor of the artefact that the young king took to the afterlife . Attached to the burying sleeping room was a United States Treasury with so many jewels and other artefact that it take Carter ten years to fully catalog them .
However , when the burial chambers of more prominent Pharaoh were unearth in the late nineteenth century , their gem chambers were virtually empty . It is common knowledge that tomb robbers had been interfering in the tomb over the centuries , but the musical scale of the thievery required to scavenge out the tomb of the kings is beyond petty felon . So , where is the vast wealth of the Pharaoh buried in the Valley of the Kings ?
Some scholars believe that the treasures were appropriated by the priests who conducted reburials in the Valley of the top executive during the period of the early 20th and later twenty-first Egyptian dynasties ( 425 - 343 B.C. ) . Pharaohs were not loth to reuse the funeral splendors of their ancestors , so this may have been extend out with official sanction .
One finical ruler , Herihor , has been the focus of peculiar attention . Herihor was a in high spirits tourist court functionary during the sovereignty of Ramses XI . Upon Ramses ' death , Herihor usurped the throne , separate up the kingdom with a co - coconspirator , his son - in - law Piankh . Herihor place himself in charge of reburial transactions at the Valley of the Kings , affording himself copious opportunity to pilfer on a grand ordered series .
His grave has never been found . When and if it is , many scholars consider that the overlook treasures of many of Egypt ’s pharaohs will eventually see the light source of day .
On the next Page , you will get hold more of the world ’s greatest missing treasure , including the Ark of the Covenant .
5. The Ark of the Covenant
To the ancient Israelites , the Ark of the Covenant was the most hallowed thing on Earth . The fundamental and overriding object of the Hebrew state , this ornate chest was , according to the Bible , design by God .
measure 44 inches long , 26 in broad , and 26 inches high-pitched , the chest was made of acacia wood , overlaid inside and out with staring amber , and wall by an artistic gilded border . Mounted on the solid gold cover charge were two golden cherub , one at each goal of the concealment face each other , with head bowed and wings extending upwards .
The Ark served as a holy archive for the safekeeping of sacred relics , including the two stone tablets of the Ten Commandments . As a historical and spiritual gem , the Ark and its contentedness were absolutely priceless .
In 607 B.C. , Jerusalem , the uppercase city of the Israelite realm of Judah and home of Solomon ’s Temple , where the Ark was housed , was besiege and overthrown by the Babylonians . In a fearsome butchery , more than a million the great unwashed were killed , with the subsister driven off into imprisonment .
Seventy twelvemonth later , when the Israelites returned to rebuild the metropolis , the Ark of the Covenant was gone . What happened to this invaluable souvenir has been the subject of vivid speculation ever since .
It is widely believe that the Ark was hidden by the Hebrews to keep it from the Babylonians . potential locating for its hiding place reach from Mount Nebo in Egypt to Ethiopia to a cave in the heart of Judah . Yet , if the Ark was hidden , why was it not recovered when the Israelites returned to Jerusalem and rebuilt the synagogue ?
Others conceive that the Ark was destroy by the rampaging Babylonians . Still another explanation put forth by the faithful is that God miraculously remove the Ark for safekeeping by agency of godly interposition .
6. Montezuma’s Treasure
The Spanish decimation of the Aztec imperium in Mexico amount to a head on July 1 , 1520 . After mortally wounding EmperorMontezuma , Hernando Cortés and his man were besiege by enrage Aztec warriors in the capital city of Tenochtitlán .
After days of boisterous fighting , Cortés ordered his men to jam up the huge treasures of Montezuma in prep for a night trajectory , but they did n’t get far before the Aztecs fell upon them . The ensuing massacre filled Lake Tezcuco with Spanish trunk and the stolen treasures of Montezuma .
The panic-stricken army had have the swag out in a vain attempt to escape with their lives . The hoard consisted of countless gold and silver ornament , along with a huge array of jewel .
Cortés and a handful of his men got away with their lives and returned a year later to exact their retaliation . When the dweller of Tenochtitlán become wind of the approaching encroacher , they bury the clay of the city ’s treasure in and around Lake Tezcuco to prevent it from fall prey to the gold - madden Spanish .
Today , a vast hoarded wealth treasure trove remains hidden beneath nearly five century of mud and muck on the outskirts of Mexico City , the modern sidereal day incarnation of Tenochtitlán . propagation of hoarded wealth quester have seek the lost hoard without winner . A former Chief Executive of Mexico even had the lake layer dredged , but no gem was constitute .
CONTRIBUTING WRITERS:
Helen Davies , Marjorie Dorfman , Mary Fons , Deborah Hawkins , Martin Hintz , Linnea Lundgren , David Priess , Julia Clark Robinson , Paul Seaburn , Heidi Stevens , and Steve Theunissen
