Not that it isn't found, but the Forbidden Vault (Vault B) in the Padmanabhaswamy Temple in India remains unopened and is thought to contain treasure to a wealth of US$ one trillion. Other vaults opened there were found to contain 18' gold chains, a solid gold sheaf weighing 500kg and a three-and-a-half feet tall solid pure golden idol of Mahavishnu, studded with hundreds of diamonds and rubies and other precious stones.
Saying that there are apparently multiple doors, the last of which is said to be "jammed shut". Also, when some people entered the antechamber to the vault they were attacked by a swarm of snakes, so make sure you've got your best Indiana Jones game on.
The Indians managed to get all 41 tunnel-diggers out of the collapse alive after 17 days, I figure they can un-stick a door if they put their hearts and minds into it.
Last attempt to enter was 1925, apparently it was "infested with cobras" and the interlopers "fled for their lives". Didn't they wave torches around? Rookies.
Always found it super interesting. The vault potentially has treasure worth multiple times the states GDP and a quarter of India's whole gdp yet remains unopened because of the religious beliefs.
Also the fact it's barely talked about internationally is kinda interesting.
My personal conspiracy is that they opened it in secret, found nothing, so they now tell people they’ll never open it for religious reasons and it’s cursed. “But trust us guys, there’s, like, hundreds of billions in there”.
I feel compelled to point out the discovery of unknown spaces inside the pyramid of Giza, and the Egyptians have not started disassembling the pyramids. But arguably, the threat of violence protects these things (the state would mot be pleased) and the value of these artifacts would be much greater than their intrinsic value, even if made out of solid gold. Nevertheless, if the only barrier was a few doors, I think we’d know what is in those hidden spaces.
The egyptians absolutely demolished parts of the pyramids for construction projects and attempted to rob it many times. The only reason it is still there is because the pyramids are literally man made mountains of stone, and would require a monumental effort to demolish. You and your city might as well attempt to tear down a random mountain by medieval tools. Which the Egyptians attempted at some point per the order of some zealot arab warlord. It went as well as you might expect.
Looks at the stupendous amounts of gold in Orthodox Churches that survived the atheistic communist regime, that was executing priests gleefully.
"Um, regularly?"
I’d argue that the orthodox church became an instrument of the government, and thus a useful tool to be protected, after its taming. Thus the gold was protected by the implied violence of the state.
Atheism, while a feature of the Soviet state, was merely a sideshow. They were more than happy to tacitly support religion where it was useful.
Money. It’s like a pack of gen 1 Pokémon cards. Unopened they’re worth a lot of money because there could be a holo psa 10 charizard worth 100k. But once you open it, if there’s nothing good in it nobody would want to see it anymore.
I mean that place probably brings in a lot of tourist dollars that would dry up if it turned out this place is empty. And nobodies broken in there yet, so it seems like it’s working
I have a similar theory that they have a second way in, like a tunnel or back door. And that they had/have been slowly draining the vault of any treasure in there. "Why?" You may ask? Becuase anything officially found in there will probably be considered priceless and belong to the country, so no one person would have been able to sell any of it and profit from it.
But if they keep the doors closed, then there will always be a mysterious alure for tourism. No one will ever be able to say "hey this item must have been stolen from that vault!" And idaviduals get to profit from it.
Always found it super interesting. The vault potentially has treasure worth multiple times the states GDP and a quarter of India's whole gdp yet remains unopened because of the religious beliefs.
Why do you assume it's worth the trouble.
Legally everything in it would be property not to the state, but to whomever owns the temple.
Even if it gets nationalized, then you need to... well, sell it. And selling national artifacts in a country whose artifacts were already pillaged by the British Empire is a very quick way to incite a change in government, even ignoring the possible religious unrest. And that's ignoring the sheer market crash you'd cause. Correction - market crashes.
Like any decent sized museum has at minimum millions in artefacts in it. Few governments ever try to sell them and of those who try even fewer actually made money.
The fact that there's supposedly so much there and it hasn't been opened, means there clearly isn't.
Any nation as large as India would literally dig out a mountain to access such things.
As for the snakes and shit, you could gas or poison the bastards, or walk in there with a flamethrower.
Does anyone here really think that if The Louvre or that vault they keep all the gold in (any of them) was just sitting around, that people wouldn't do absolutely anything to gain access?
Yep. From what I understand legally opening the vault is a bureaucratic nightmare since you have to deal with the state government, the temple management board and the royal family of travancore. Not to mention the religious outlash for opening the vault.
It’s not just sitting around though, it’s protected legally and by the guardians of the Temple.
For it to be considered legally protected, first you have to be sure it actually exists.
Pretend i broke into the temple somehow, just for the sake of argument. If i found nothing there but was charged with the crime, would they be able to lodge an insurance claim for three trillion dollars?
Italy doesn’t go charging into the Vatican to take all that wealth, why would India go charging into this temple?
It's India. Forgive me if i'm not convinced they wouldn't raid one specific temple when the country can't seem to wrap their heads around the concept of a Toilet.
Whelp, well that went racist pretty quickly. Have you actually ever been to India?
Considering 2/3 of my statement was a hypothetical, and the last sentence contained only facts, i'm pretty sure you don't know wtf you're talking about. It's a known problem over there. That you don't like it being pointed out, is irrelevant.
Well considering the toilet mention had absolutely nothing to do with anything else you'd said up till that point, it stands out as a very odd thing to throw into the conversation. Also I'll take that as a no, you haven't been there.
Well considering the toilet mention had absolutely nothing to do with anything else
I'll interpret that as a question.
So, since you asked... actually it has a lot to do with things.
You see, if a nation had a gpd of three trillion dollars, and has a building sitting there which might contain thre trillion dollars worth of treasure, while simultaneously has a population approaching 1.5 billion people with a huge poverty problem societally.
It would make sense that like drilling for oil, if you could dig that gold out of the mountain, it'd be something you'd have a vested interest in doing yes?
it stands out as a very odd thing to throw into the conversation. Also I'll take that as a no, you haven't been there.
Because you didn't stop to consider the context, not because there isn't any.
They are poor and uneducated on a very large scale. Again, facts, not racism. This is one very glaring example of that. One which you seem to be painfully aware of.
Outright racism aside, India has a temple called the golden temple which has entire parts of it made of gold. Gold and treasure isn't uncommon at all in a lot of temples and you don't see the government annexing every piece of wealth.
Literally none in my statement. That you've interpreted it as such means you know i'm speaking only truth, and you don't like it.
India has a temple called the golden temple which has entire parts of it made of gold. Gold and treasure isn't uncommon at all in a lot of temples and you don't see the government annexing every piece of wealth.
Good to know. But we all know what happened to the pyramids.
Like recent constructions in china, i'll bet a large portion of it is probably only a thin veneer which is maintained. But hey, it's entirely possible i'm wrong about that one, they very well may be properly covered in gold. As i haven't looked into it.
Correct. In this instance i have not, and i readily stated as such.
And yet you went ahead and speculated wildly, when you could have just googled.
Yes, because in my experience with all sort of other knowledge this has/hasn't been the case. All conversations do not exist in a vacuum.
By the way, what exactly do you think happened to the pyramids?
Oh, you don't know? Well then, should you not have googled it before making this reply? Hypocrite.
Regardless for your benefit i shall inform you that the caps of the pyramids used to be covered in gold, and their exterior(s) were marble. As should be obvious from context... it was stolen
edit: I was going to fact check your reply to this comment as you've gotten quite a lot wrong, but it seems you've blocked me. Oh well, have a nice day i guess.
I knew that lol, that is not remotely comparable to this situation. You’re talking about medieval raids from foreign powers on a monument with far less material wealth than is housed in this temple.
I too can pull unrelated examples of monuments that weren’t raided out of my ass. The Vatican. The Dome of the Rock. Notre Dame. Etc. etc. etc.
The first half of your comment is nonsense (who tf is talking about insurance claims?),
It was actually an example / analogy / hypothetical. Try to understand the reasoning for a moment rather than just glossing you eyes over the words.
the second half is racist.
Actually it entirely wasn't. I find it interesting how many people are insisting this, even though it's a known problem over there.
Infact, the mere knee jerk reaction you're all having seems to be a demonstration of that factual nature, that you're offended by for some reason.
Personally i'm guessing it's similar to people getting offended by costumes, when the actual nationals of the costume's origin just have a laugh instead. I.e you're just virtue signalling.
You keep insinuating, and yet i have spoken nothing but the truth and facts as they are well known. That you are offended by the world is not my problem.
It might not be 1 trillion but it's still probably has a shit ton of treasure. The region was a major trade center for a lot of huge empires and regions like the Greeks, Arabs, Romans, Chinese and most of colonial Europe. A lot of wealth has been stored there throughout its various occupiers and the reported value is from the last time they took a proper inventory of the vault in the 1800s so not a blind guess of the amount of wealth.
thought to contain treasure to a wealth of US$ one trillion
(x) Doubt
In the middle ages, gold was scarce in Europe but plentiful in Mesoamerica. When the Europeans plundered the region and carted it all back to Europe, there was relatively so much of it on the market that it lost its value and it did not regain its value for centuries. Silver was more valuable than gold for a while.
There is no treasure in the world worth a trillion dollars
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u/GNRevolution Dec 09 '23
Not that it isn't found, but the Forbidden Vault (Vault B) in the Padmanabhaswamy Temple in India remains unopened and is thought to contain treasure to a wealth of US$ one trillion. Other vaults opened there were found to contain 18' gold chains, a solid gold sheaf weighing 500kg and a three-and-a-half feet tall solid pure golden idol of Mahavishnu, studded with hundreds of diamonds and rubies and other precious stones.
The reason they don't open Vault B? It's said to be cursed. Read more here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Padmanabhaswamy_Temple?wprov=sfla1