The search for the lost treasures of kings, pirates and sunken empires never ceases to fascinate people. Even more than the lure of riches, it is the adventure and challenge of an unsolved mystery that captivates so many treasure hunters. Richly illustrated, this book documents the search for the most famous and mysterious, as yet undiscovered treasures in human history: from the hoard of the Nibelungs and the legendary El Dorado to a Nazi treasure located on Fuerteventura.
In Europe, the search is on for the silver treasure of the Bavarian Elector Maximilian I, hidden in 1648, and for the jewels of King Johann Ohneland, the brother of Richard the Lionheart. One of the most mysterious treasures is located in Rennes le Chateau and was discovered more than a hundred years ago by a Catholic priest, but has been lost since his death.
The author also looks at the most important treasure islands on all the world's oceans where pirates buried their booty, including the lost treasure of the "Sea Devil" Felix Count Luckner, the famous German privateer in the First World War.
The search continues to the once discovered but since lost "Golden Reef" in Australia and the mysterious "Temple of the Snake Man" in Central Africa. Treasure diggers are still searching for an immeasurably rich claim in Arizona in the footsteps of the German emigrant Jakob von Walzer, while there is a strange treasure map in Virginia which, despite the latest computer technology, has only been partially deciphered to this day.
Details
- 166 pages, 17 x 24cm
- B&W photos and sketches