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Thu, Oct 25, 2012
The armies of Nazi Germany crossed the border with Austria, but when Hitler arrived in Vienna just 2 days later, the very first thing he did was to go to the Hofburg museum to lay claim to what appeared to be a simple Roman spear head. This spear head was something that Hitler had apparently coveted ever since he had first nurtured ambitions to become the ruler of a new German Reich.
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Thu, Nov 8, 2012
In 1941 the Germans looted one of the Soviet Union's most important art works, called the Amber Room. An extraordinary series of C18 amber screens worth millions of pounds and considered, by many, the 8th wonder of the world. It was taken to the Baltic city of Konigsberg. 4 years later at the end of the war, it had vanished. So began one of the greatest treasure hunts of the twentieth century.
Thu, Nov 22, 2012
A rich and exotic Queen of Sheba brought King Solomon gifts of gold from the mystical land of Ophir. But where was Ophir? Where had all that gold come from? For 1000 of years, ancient Greeks, Renaissance adventurers, Victorian explorers, and modern day scientists have searched for the source of Solomon's gold. A mysterious place that would famously become known as King Solomon's Mines.
Thu, Nov 29, 2012
The Honjo Masamune is perhaps the greatest Japanese sword ever made. Forged in the 13th century by the great sword smith Masamune it became the ceremonial sword of the ruling Tokugawa shoguns for 250 years. After their fall from power in 1868 the great sword continued to be passed down the generations into the 20th century, but in the aftermath of the Second World War it disappeared.
Thu, Dec 6, 2012
The Holy Grail, the most prized relic of Christianity has been shrouded in mystery for centuries. Said to be the cup used by Christ at the last supper it is believed by many to hold miraculous powers. For centuries Kings, knights and treasure hunters have sought it, but it has always remained elusive and out of reach of human hands.
Thu, Jan 10, 2013
Legend tells that somewhere in South America there is a great city of gold, El Dorado, a fabulously rich and sophisticated kingdom that was once home to thousands of people living deep in the Amazon jungle. To most people it was just a legend. But for British explorer, Colonel Percy Fawcett, it was real. Convinced he knew the location of this lost world, he spent years searching for it.
Thu, Jan 17, 2013
Heinrich Himmler sent his SS solders to locate a treasure so valuable to Nazi ideology that it must be recovered at all costs. The item they are searching for is an ancient manuscript, a perfect copy of a book written nearly two thousand years before in Rome which the Nazis call the birth certificate for the German race. The book is known as the Germania; for the Nazis it is the "Book of Power".
Thu, Feb 7, 2013
Fifteen years ago Michael Hesemann, a German historian, set out to establish the authenticity of one of the most important Christian relics ever found. It's called the Titulus Crucis, or Title of the Cross, a small piece of wood that, it's claimed, hung on the cross of Christ announcing his name and crime. It's displayed in a church in Rome. But is it real or a mediaeval fake?