Hunting for lost treasures

From the Amber Room to the mysterious treasure of Lima, many of the world's most valuable treasures are considered missing. Others are shrouded in legend. The treasure of the Knights Templar is one such example. The knights of the Crusades supposedly accumulated vast riches, including the Holy Grail, said to bring its owner good fortune and eternal youth.

In 1307, the French King Philip IV saw the wealthy Knights Templar as being too powerful, and had the group's leaders assassinated. But what happened to the treasure? King Philip’s men failed to find any sizeable riches in the religious houses, giving rise to the myth that the knights had hidden the spoils. Treasure hunters suspect it was hidden in Israel, Scotland and on Oak Island in Canada.

The Templars treasure was also thought to be hidden in the Rennes-le-Chateâu (pictured) in France. The village priest, Bérenger Saunière (1852-1917), became fabulously rich overnight and carried out numerous renovations on the local church. Many adventurers believe he'd discovered the treasure. Today the village is a tourist attraction and a popular place for amateur excavations.

This treasure is real. The legendary Amber Room was created by a German artist, and in 1716 Prussian King Friedrich Wilhelm I presented it to Russian Tsar Peter the Great. But in 1941 the precious amber was stolen by German soldiers and taken to Königsberg, now Kaliningrad in Russia. There, the trail runs cold. A painstakingly reconstructed copy can be seen today in St. Petersburg.

Gold belonging to the last tsar of Russia still lies somewhere at the bottom of Siberia's Lake Baikal. In winter 1920, long after the tsar was murdered, opponents of the new communist regime tried to transport railroad cars of gold over the frozen lake. But the ice split, so the legend goes. Researchers have been looking for the treasure ever since. In 2010, submarines were used in the search.

In 1820 Spanish colonialists supposedly removed a precious Madonna statue and chests full of gold from the cathedral in the Peruvian capital. British troops had been blockading the town and wanted to seize control of the territory. The Spanish had organized for the treasure to leave the port in a merchant ship. But then something unexpected happened...

Instead of saving the treasure for the Spanish, the ship’s crew is said to have stolen the riches and buried them on Cocos Island, which now belongs to Costa Rica. To this day, there has been no trace of the gold from Lima. Adventurers have dug up the island (pictured) several times, but to no avail. It’s also suspected that other pirate booty may have been buried there.

This pirate is a folk hero in Germany, even if researchers doubt his existence. Klaus Störtebeker was executed in 1401 for robbing ships belonging to Hamburg’s rich merchants on the North and Baltic Seas. He'd reportedly tried to make a deal for his release by offering to hand over enough gold to form a chain around the city. Never found, some think the gold landed on the island of Rügen.

Australia also has its own treasure legend: the enigmatic Gold Reef of Lewis Hubert Lasseter. The Australian claimed to have found huge gold deposits in the Outback as a young man. In 1930 he led an expedition to locate the Reef, but no gold was ever found. He separated from the group after a disagreement, and his body was found in the desert in 1931. Today he is thought of as a charlatan.

Near the end of World War II, Nazi criminals like SS bigwig Ernst Kaltenbrunner fled into the Austrian Alps with stolen gold and looted art. Until today, legends have surrounded Lake Toplitz. Did Kaltenbrunner sink a pot of gold here? In 1959 cases containing fake British pound notes were found during a dive (pictured), but there has been no sign of the treasure.

When it comes to lost treasure, hard facts are usually scarce. But the mystery is what attracts treasure hunters in the first place. Plus, there’s always the chance that mythical riches will one day be found. In 1872 German archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann discovered the ruins of Troy and a pot of gold. This photo shows a replica. Even Schliemann had previously been dismissed as a fantasist.