From ancient times to modern times, countless stories, tales and legends circulate about priceless treasures from all over the world, which have been lost without a trace.
Wars, thefts and natural disasters have led to the disappearance of many precious treasures whose location is unknown to this day. This report reviews some of the most prominent of those treasures that many still dream of finding.
Tomb of Genghis Khan
Mystery shrouds the end of Genghis Khan, who died in the summer of 1227, during a campaign along the upper reaches of the Yellow River in Yinchuan, China, but the true cause of his death is still unknown, according to a report by The Collector.
It is probably reasonable to assume that he died of wounds sustained during the battle.
It is also reasonable to believe that these wounds did not come from the enemy's arrow, as suggested by Italian explorer Marco Polo, but from a fall off his horse while hunting.
The secrecy surrounding Genghis Khan's death generated much speculation and later inspired an endless stream of apocryphal stories hardly distinguished from pure fiction.
Historians claim that many years before his death, Genghis Khan wished to be buried in an unmarked grave in Mongolia.
After death, the body of Genghis Khan was carried by his soldiers to his homeland, where he was buried - at his request - in an unmarked grave, somewhere in the heart of the Barkhan Khaldun Mountains.
And as he himself demanded during his lifetime, the place was not marked in any way, neither a shrine, nor a temple, nor a tombstone.
Based on the legends, every soldier who participated in the burial was killed in order to keep the place secret.
Other legends claim that his people released a thousand horses in the area to hide any signs of human activity, and that they also altered the flow of the nearby river to pass over his tomb, and even after centuries of excavation, no trace of Genghis Khan's tomb has ever been found.
The Lost City of the Incas
Despite its discovery in the early twentieth century by an American archaeologist, many secrets still surround the city of Machu Picchu in the Andes.
It is said that when the Spaniards reached Cusco in Peru, the indigenous people of the region took valuables from Machu Picchu and took refuge in an unknown place to Paitete, the legendary “golden” city that has not been found until today.
It is said that the people burned their homes before leaving so that the Spaniards would find nothing of value.
Did the smoke of the fire help obscure a site as huge as the ruins of Machu Picchu?
Some theories say that the Spaniards thought that the area was the Golden City, but soon realized that their guess was wrong.
It is said that they did not pass the heights of Machu Picchu in the first place, and that the people deliberately did not mention them so as not to be destroyed by the new invader.
Theories indicate that it was a sacred city where religious rituals were held, and that the vegetation that surrounded the ruins of the Inca Empire in those highlands contributed to distracting the Spanish from it, so it remained hidden among the trees and clouds, and spectra of people abandoned it after a civil war that had begun and ended before the foreign invasion.
Amber room
In a report published by the Spanish newspaper "El Confidencial", writer Ada Nuño says that these lost treasures possess a special charm and importance, not only because of their material value, but also because of the strange legends and stories that are told about them.
After the original room was lost, a replica was opened in Catherine's Palace in 2003 (European)
Also known as the "eighth wonder of the world" and the "sunstone", it was designed by German sculptor Andreas Schlütter and built by a Danish craftsman specializing in amber called Gottfried Wolfram, to be part of the palace of King Friedrich I of Prussia during the 18th century.
The room surprisingly escaped destruction during the Bolshevik Revolution, but disappeared during World War II, with only one piece remaining.
In the summer of 1944, the Allies bombed the city of Königsberg and the castle in which the ward room is located was destroyed, then disappeared and its whereabouts remain unknown to this day.
In 2003, a replica of the room was opened in the Catherine Palace on the occasion of the 300th anniversary of the founding of Saint Petersburg.
Tomb of Nefertiti
Earlier, archaeologists believed that the remains of Nefertiti's tomb could be found in Tutankhamun's tomb, but new studies have ruled out this theory because there are no rooms adjacent to Tutankhamun's burial chamber.
The prestigious journal Nature announced the results of its review of a report prepared - last year - by a research team led by Mamdouh El-Damaty, the former Egyptian Minister of Antiquities, indicating that the tomb of Tutankhamun, located in the Valley of the Kings and Queens on the western mainland in the Egyptian city of Luxor, may contain a secret room. Behind the burial chamber.
The research team believes that this room may contain the tomb of Queen Nefertiti, the wife of King Amenhotep IV, Pharaoh of the 18th Dynasty, and the protectors of Tutankhamun, as no one had previously been able to find her tomb in the Valley of the Kings and Queens, according to a previous report by Al Jazeera Net.
Alexander the Great's tomb
When Alexander the Great died in Babylon, his tomb did not remain there for long.
Some accounts say that Ptolemy stole his body while returning to Macedonia and took it to Alexandria, where it remained for several centuries.
Historians indicate that the tomb was looted several times, as the Roman emperor Augustus broke the nose, Pompey "the Great" stole the cloak, and Caligula plundered the shield, and the tomb disappeared completely after the fall of the Roman Empire.
In 2015, a huge tomb was found in Amphipolis (Northern Greece) and some believed that it was the tomb of Alexander, before excavations proved that it was the tomb of Hephaestion, the closest friend of Alexander the Great, who does not know where he was buried specifically.
Florence Diamond
This diamond is one of the most famous diamonds in history, but it has not been found until today.
There are various theories about its origin, but its size is estimated at 137.27 carats.
In 1918, when World War I ended and the Austro-Hungarian Empire disappeared, the royal family took the diamond with them into exile in Switzerland.
In 1921, a person close to the family was said to have stolen them and a number of other gems from the Austrian crown and sent them to South America.
Since then, her whereabouts are unknown.
sea flower ship
At 36 meters in length, 33 in width and over 400 tons in weight, this ship became one of the feats of the Portuguese fleet when it was built in 1502. On one of its voyages, the ship went to Malaysia, and its stores were filled with treasures from the Malaysian Sultan's palace.
On the return trip, she encountered a storm that swamped her off the coast of Sumatra.
The treasures contained in the ship are estimated at more than two billion euros, in addition to 54,000 kilograms of gold.
Cleopatra's tomb
Legend has it that Queen Cleopatra decided to commit suicide by being bitten by a venomous snake so as not to be captured by Octavian's army, and there are other theories suggesting that she died in a less tragic way.
However, her death put an end to the rule of the Ptolemaic dynasty, beginning the decline of the ancient Egyptian civilization.
The Egyptian Antiquities Authority believes that Cleopatra's tomb is located near the temple of "Taposiris Magna" southwest of Alexandria (north of Cairo), while Egyptian archaeologist Zahi Hawass confirms that it is located near her private palace in Alexandria, but she is buried under water.