Centuries-Old Hunt For Vanished Treasures

A. Sutherland - AncientPages.com - Did Genghis Khan, ruler of the largest empire in the world, leave behind treasures?

When he died in 1227, some of the precious things, collected in a vast area, from China in the east to the Caspian Sea in the west,  are believed to have been buried in the emperor's tomb.

The location of the ruler's tomb has been the object of much speculation and research. The tomb remains undiscovered.

According to Genghis Khan's last will, he wanted to be buried in an unknown location. Ancient sources suggest that Genghis Khan is buried somewhere beneath the desolated steppe of Northeastern Mongolia, entombed in a place so secretive that anyone who made the mistake of encountering his funeral procession was immediately executed; also the builders of the emperor's tomb had to be executed when the tomb was completed. All soldiers who executed the builders met the same fate; they had to die as well.

Legend says that once he was below ground, his men brought in horses to trample evidence of his grave, and just to be absolutely sure he would never be found, they diverted a river to flow over their leader's final resting place.

Could his grave be hidden in the vicinity of the upper part of Mongolia's Onon River, the area, which is supposed to be Genghis Khan's birthplace?

In January 2015 the University of California, San Diego set up a project asking anyone
interested to tag potential sites of the burial through images taken from space and search has been conducted by using drones. The latter shows that the 250m-long tumulus at the top of the Burkhan Khaldun mountain, is of human origin and the structure continuously remains the subject of religious rites and pilgrimages of the surrounding population. The access to the area is strictly controlled and it is impossible to explore the area.

Another great treasure is the Ark of the Covenant, one of the world's history most wanted religious treasures. Is it lost, hidden away or perhaps is there a copy of it in Africa?

In Jewish tradition, the Ark, the most sacred and holy object in the world, was made of acacia wood and contained the tablets of stone on which were inscribed the Ten Commandments received from God by Moses on Sinai, as well as Aaron's rod and manna.

According to the Old Testament, the Israelites carried the Ark of the Covenant with them wherever they went, and it contained great divine power that proved fatal to many. When the Temple of Jerusalem was built, the Ark was placed and enshrined there in the Holy of Holies.

Then, the Temple was filled with a cloud, "for the glory of the Lord had filled the house of the Lord" (1 Kings 8:10-11; 2 Chron. 5:13, 14).

At some point, the Ark disappeared from Jerusalem. Some sources suggest that the Ark of the disappeared in 586 BC with the conquest of Jerusalem by the Babylonians and the consequent destruction of the Temple of Jerusalem.

However, Ethiopians and some western theorists say it has been kept in a chapel in Axum, Ethiopia for over three millenia, carefully hidden during wars. The Ark of the Covenant at Axum cannot be seen by anyone but a single guardian, the High Priest of Axum, an elderly and especially holy monk who is charged with its care and preservation for life. He cannot leave the small yard that surrounds the chapel, and he is expected to name his successor on his deathbed.

A British Professor Tudor Parfitt, been looking for the Ark of the convenant for two decades. Finally, he found a mysterious coffin hidden at the museum in Zimbabwe and believes that this is a direct copy of the Ark of the Covenant which was destroyed in Africa about 400 years ago.

Others believe that there is something sacred and very old enshrined at Axum, but it is most probably not the Ark of the Covenant. Will the holy treasure ever be found or perhaps as Jeremiah 3:16 says:

"the ark of the covenant of the Lord... shall not come to mind, nor shall they remember it, nor shall they miss it, nor shall it be made again..."

Not so long ago, we experienced a great plunder, the Nazi plunder. Heinrich Himmler (1900-1945) was one of the most feared men in Nazi Germany and Europe once World War Two broke out. The war occupied his thoughts and so did priceless treasures and especially one: the Holy Grail, probably the world's most famous treasure.

Himmler was obsessed with the concept of the Holy Grail and wanted desperately to find the Grail; he believed that it might actually be found one day…

In autumn 1940, in the midst of World War II, SS leader Heinrich Himmler traveled to the Montserrat Abbey outside Barcelona, Spain. Himmler was inspired by Otto Wilhelm Rahn (1904-1939), a German expert in medieval history, literature, architecture and art, who as a young boy became interested in the legends related to the Holy Grail.

Rahn traveled across Europe to research the subject and in 1933 wrote a book "Crusade Against the Grail"; this book made a strong impression on Himmler.

See also:

‘Bad King John’ Of England: His Lost Treasures Have Never Been Found

Undeciphered Ancient Stone Maps With Mysterious Signs May Hold Key To The Spider Rock Treasure

Mystery Of The Lost Cahuenga Pass Treasure: Baffling Unexpected Deaths Caused By A Curse Or Natural Causes?

Incredible Padmanabhaswamy Temple And Its Ancient Treasures Hidden In Vaults Guarded By Serpents

The relic, which Jesus Christ was said to have used to consecrate the Last Supper, had much deeper meaning for Himmler. He believed he was actually looking for the "Aryan" Holy Grail, a Nordic pagan artifact, which – if found – it could help Germany win the war and  give him supernatural powers.

Heinrich Himmler found nothing and Germany did not win the war.

What did happen to fabulous treasures in form of the German national gold and foreign currency reserves worth about £2,500,000,000 at the time of the Nazi collapse in 1945?

Swiss Bank stood accused for collaboration with the Nazi but when the war raged also American and British banks continued to do "great" business with the Nazis.

An extensive research shows that the Nazis deposited at least $400 million in stolen assets in the Swiss banks. In today's currency that would be worth at least 4 billion dollars!

How much do they know about the disappearance of a gigantic amount of gold and money belonging to the Reich?

What happened to the hundreds of millions of dollars in gold and other assets stolen by the Nazis during World War II?

Some had been looted from banks in European countries invaded by the Germans. Some had come from jewelry, dental fillings and other items confiscated from Jews killed during the Holocaust.

The official report from 1997 says that the Swiss National Bank knew at the time that the German deposits consisted of looted gold.

Mystery of the lost gold and other possessions stolen by the Nazis defeated nations has never been solved. Hitler had a "great" plan to build the greatest museum on earth filled with the finest relics ever created by humans on this planet.

Written by – A. Sutherland  - AncientPages.com Senior Staff Writer

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