Help I Lost Myself Again but I Remember You
Every day, we get out our wallets on coffee shop counters, forget our phones in Lyfts, and dump out the contents of our bags earlier realizing, yes, the car keys were in our pockets the whole time. But some things that accept been lost over the years aren't so mundane—or replaceable. From stolen artworks and disappeared writings to destroyed places, we're counting down 30 of history's most devastating losses.
The Amber Room
Made from several tons of the titular gemstone, the Amber Room has been dubbed the "8th Wonder of the World." Six tons of amber, precious stones and aureate leaf made this 180-square-foot room worth an estimated $142 million. Originally built in 1701, the Prussian-congenital Amber Room was eventually installed at Catherine Palace in Pushkin past Czarina Elizabeth.
Merely false wallpaper wasn't enough to hide the room from the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Spousal relationship in 1941. Nazis packed it into 27 crates and shipped it to a castle museum in Königsberg, Frg. Ii years later, the Bister Room was packed abroad again, simply before a serial of bombings. And that's where the trail goes common cold.
No ane has seen information technology since. For now, the curious tin visit an $11 1000000 replica only outside Saint petersburg.
Story of the Kelly Gang (1906), First Feature-length Film
Born in 1855, Ned Kelly became Australia's almost famous bushranger. Known to many as an Aussie Robin Hood, he became a bonafide legend just before his death and, in doing so, the perfect subject for the globe'south kickoff feature-length motion-picture show.
Infamously, Kelly and his gang ended up in a standoff with the police in 1880. Kelly fashioned himself a adjust of armor and snuck up on the law surrounding the boondocks he'd taken earnest.
In 1906, manager Charles Tait shot the silent film The Story of the Kelly Gang in Melbourne. The end outcome? A reel that measured 4,000 feet and a film that clocked in at a lilliputian over an hr. This made it the longest narrative—and starting time feature-length—picture in the earth. Over the years, bits of the lost picture show have been cobbled together into a 17-infinitesimal fragment.
Library of Alexandria
Alexandria's library was the greatest archive of noesis in the world—until it vanished. Historians guess the library housed over half a million documents from Assyria, Egypt, Greece, India, and Persia. Though many attribute the Library'due south destruction to a fire, the truth is shrouded in mystery.
Some pin the law-breaking on Julius Caesar, while others blame violence that broke out between the Christians, Pagans, and Jewish people inhabiting the city. Some don't think at that place was a catastrophic burn at all—simply boring dissolution over time.
Stranger nevertheless, no architectural remains that tin be definitively attributed to the Library have ever been found.
FIFA's Jules Rimet World Cup Bays
You'd be hard pressed to observe an laurels with a better Hollywood backstory than the original Jules Rimet World Loving cup Trophy. Start handed out in 1930, the Jules Rimet Bays was made of gilt-plated sterling silverish and lapis lazuli. And more than just footballers were eager to claim it.
During World War Ii, Ottorino Barassi, the president of the Italian Football game Federation, smuggled the trophy from a banking company and into his flat. Nazi soldiers tracked the trophy to Barassi'due south home, but failed to open up the maximum security shoebox stashed under his bed.
Years after, the trophy was stolen while on display in England, but an intrepid dog named Pickles discovered information technology in some bushes within days of the theft.
Later on Brazil won the trophy for a tertiary fourth dimension in 1970, it was displayed in Rio de Janeiro behind bullet-proof glass. Despite these precautions, it was stolen on December 19, 1983. Most people believe information technology was melted down into gilded bars.
Honjō Masamune
The most respected Japanese swordsmith was Goro Nyudo Masamune. He saw the rise of the samurai class's ability during what's known as the Kamakura Menstruum (the late 13th and early 14th centuries). Even today, his blades are highly sought later for their quality and rich history. Merely perhaps none is more renowned than the lost Honjō Masamune.
The Honjō Masamune received its name from one of its outset owners, Honjō Shigenaga, a full general who fought another ranking officeholder during a battle in 1561. Shigenaga's helmet was cleft in ii by his opponent, simply the general withstood the blow and killed his foe.
As was customary, he took his fallen opponent's weapon—a Masamune blade. The Honjō Masamune was sold and passed downwardly for years, until the Tokugawa family claimed information technology as a symbol for their shogunate.
Only, in the wake of Globe War Ii, Tokugawa Iemasa handed over his family's prized swords in 1945 to the US Ground forces, including the Honjō Masamune. Since then, the bract'southward whereabouts have been unknown.
Roanoke
Aside from its starring office in American Horror Story'southward sixth season, Roanoke is best known equally the offset endeavor to set upwardly a permanent English colony in North America. Also called the "Lost Colony," the settlement was established on Roanoke Isle in 1585. Only the country, which is in present-day North Carolina, shows no traces of this former colony.
After establishing the settlement, well-nigh of those involved with the initial settlement returned to England for more supplies, just a small detachment stayed behind. When the settlers returned with supplies, they found that the contingent they had left behind was gone.
Leader John White left the 115 new settlers in Roanoke and headed back to England for aid. Upon his return in 1590, the entire Roanoke Colony had vanished—no artifacts, no bodies. The only clue? The name of a nearby tribe, "CROATOAN," was carved into a tree.
Colossus of Rhodes
The Colossus of Rhodes was erected in the city of—surprise—Rhodes to celebrate the metropolis's victory over Cyprus. Historians believe that the statue was 108 feet tall, making information technology the tallest (known) statue in the ancient world. And, in today's terms, roughly the same meridian as the Statue of Freedom.
One of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient Globe, the Colossus was meant to be the Greek sunday god Helios. It was constructed around 280 BCE, but toppled around 226 BCE when a massive earthquake struck Rhodes. Unlike the remnants of other lost treasures from antiquity, parts of the statue were preserved.
As of 2015, at that place are plans to build a new Colossus at the entrance to Rhodes Harbor.
Mahogany Ship
Though fishermen and traders from Republic of indonesia, India and Prc visited the aboriginals of what is now known equally Commonwealth of australia for thousands of years, Europeans didn't gear up pes on the continent until a 17th century Dutch expedition. Or and so it was thought. The discovery of a shipwreck in 1836, just off the south-western coast of Victoria, near Warrnambool, challenged this commonly-held belief.
The whalers who discovered the wreck, half cached in sand dunes, claimed it was fabricated of night woods. Hence the nickname the "Mahogany Ship." Merely, most significantly, the ship seemed to be of Portugese origin.
Because the shipwreck'south location was uncertain, there haven't been many large-calibration expeditions for the Mahogany Ship. Yet, the State Government of Victoria offered wreck-hunters a $250,000 reward in 1992 for the ship'due south recovery. Why? Well, if the send is Portugese it could rewrite Australia's colonial history as we know information technology.
Parliamentary Mace (Victoria)
Despite its intimidating name, parliamentary mace isn't a weapon. (Anymore.) Instead, it'south a symbol of the Role of the Speaker and the constitutional rights of the people. That'due south why the theft of the parliamentary mace from Victoria'due south Parliament marks i of Commonwealth of australia'due south greatest unsolved mysteries.
Made of argent, plated with gold, and decorated with roses, shamrocks, and eucalyptus leaves, the mace was taken but afterwards midnight on Friday, October ix, 1891. The suspects? Many remember the members of the house responsible for locking the mace up that night nabbed it. And then brought information technology to a nearby brothel for kicks.
To this day, anyone who finds and returns the mace will earn a lofty $50,000 reward. That'south a lot of vegemite.
The Complete Canterbury Tales
Geoffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales—the bane of many a high schoolhouse English grade—contains 24 stories. Meliorate yet, the 17,000 lines of text are all written in Middle English. (Me thynketh, no thanks.) Believe information technology or not, Chaucer only wrote about a quarter of the tales he wanted to include before his expiry.
That'southward correct: The Canterbury Tales were essentially the Game of Thrones (or, more accurately, A Song of Fire and Ice series) of the belatedly 1300s. The book alternates between the points of view of various pilgrims, contains a lot of walking from place to place, and its author couldn't seem to write quickly enough to close out the series.
After a decade of writing, Chaucer penned 24 of his 100 planned stories. And, when he died, some of those tales were still bitty. Now, several versions of particular stories exist. And we'll never know the outcome of the pilgrims' trek.
Several of Disney's Oswald Shorts
Before Walt Disney's Mickey Mouse debuted in Steamboat Willie (1928), the man backside the mouse worked on another animated series starring Oswald the Lucky Rabbit. In total, 27 one-reel "Oswalds" were produced at the Walt Disney Studio before Disney lost the rights to the grapheme to Universal Pictures. And while things improved for Disney after the dispute, Oswald's state of affairs worsened.
For years, it was thought that merely 19 of the Disney-produced Oswald shorts survived. In 2015, the British Film Institute discovered a missing Oswald brusque in its archives. A 2nd "lost" Oswald cartoon surfaced in Japan in 2018. Yasushi Watanabe, at present 84, had purchased the five-minute picture show Neck 'n' Cervix (1928) decades ago for a mere 500 yen.
While these discoveries are heady, picture show buffs still mourn the fact that the other missing "Oswalds" may remain lost.
Leonardo Da Vinci'south Manuscripts
Leonardo Da Vinci is the Renaissance Man—artist, inventor, writer, and general overachiever. While his Mona Lisa draws hordes of visitors to the Louvre in Paris every day, he'southward as well known for several "ahead-of-his-time" inventions, including a prototype for a helicopter-like flying machine. And although a bully deal is known almost Da Vinci, a bully deal of his immense body of piece of work has also been lost.
Subsequently his expiry, Da Vinci's manuscripts were inherited by his student, Francesco Melzi. Merely when Melzi passed, the manuscripts were scattered—some were stolen, while others were given away or lost by Melzi's son Orazio. Now, the existing manuscripts comprise just one fifth or so of Da Vinci's total torso of work.
While fragments have resurfaced, the works are frequently difficult to decipher: Da Vinci famously wrote in code and practiced "mirror writing."
Lost Dutchman'south Gold Mine
Treasure-hunters and thrillseekers however fix out to observe a treasure near Apache Junction, Arizona that was allegedly buried somewhere back in 1891. Some of these treasure-hunters don't make it back at all. What's worth risking life and limb in the Superstition Mountains? The "Dutchman'due south" aureate.
German language immigrant Jacob Waltz, "the Dutchman" in question, took the clandestine of where he hid his gold with him when he died. And why has no one come shut to digging up the mine? The Superstitions are treacherously steep and the magnetic stone messes with compasses. Worse notwithstanding, summers are fatally hot; winters are fatally cold. And cell phones ofttimes fail.
So, why endeavour? George Johnston, who worked at a local museum on the subject, said, "If a mine produces 2 and a half ounces of gold per ton of rock, it is a bonanza. Well, the Dutchman's gilt ore that fabricated that matchbook case assayed out to l ounces per ton."
For some, this potential prize outweighs the risk.
Isabella Stewart Gardner's Art
If you head to the Boston-based museum's website, yous'll come across that the investigation into the 1990 theft at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum is active and ongoing. In fact, if you have any tips that atomic number 82 to the prophylactic return of all 13 stolen works they'll advantage you with a cool $10 million.
Nearly 30 years ago, two thieves bearded every bit police officers broke into the museum and grabbed the 13 paintings from the walls. That's correct: $500 million—gone just similar that. Amid the stolen works were pieces past Rembrandt, Vermeer, and Edgar Degas.
The heist is nonetheless known as the largest private property theft in American history. And, in a nod to its history, the Gardner Museum displays empty frames where the stolen works once hung.
Sappho's Poems
The poet Sappho was dubbed "the tenth Muse" past Plato and known in the ancient earth for her achieved verse. During the tertiary century BCE, her poems were collected into a whopping nine volumes, which were later on lost or damaged.
After a parody characterized Sappho every bit a promiscuous lesbian, Pope Gregory burned much of her work in 1073. For awhile, it was idea that only one twenty-eight-line poem had survived. But in 1898 that changed.
The starting time of her poetry fragments, written on papyrus, were discovered. Several years later, in 1914, archeologists working in Egypt found coffins made from paper scraps—and on them? More fragmented verses that appeared to be authored past Sappho.
Tree of Ténéré
Northeastern Niger was once dwelling house to a woods of trees. Afterward desertification took hold, a lone acacia, known as the Tree of Ténéré, remained. Known as the most isolated tree in the world, the closest copse lie well-nigh 250 miles abroad.
Dubbed a "living lighthouse" past Michel Lesourd in the 1930s, the Tree of Ténéré was considered sacred for decades by the nomadic Tuareg people. When Europeans drew military maps of the expanse, the acacia became a landmark. Only in 1973 this changed when a reportedly drunk driver struck the tree, uprooting it.
To award the tree, a metal sculpture has been constructed where it once stood. And Niger'south National Museum relocated the remnants of the Tree of Ténéré to Niamey for a display.
Crown Jewels of Ireland
If you're anything similar u.s.a., the phrase "crown jewels" immediately conjures up a movie of a fancy purple, all decked out in furs and gemstones. Just the Irish gaelic Crown Jewels are a tad unlike. They don't have links to the monarchy, merely to an aristocratic group called the Order of St. Patrick. And the society's "Grand Master" would wear the jewels—well, until the infamous theft in 1907.
Sir Arthur Vicars, who was charged with protecting the Crown Jewels, held ii keys to the safe. He kept one of those keys at his domicile.
But Vicars wasn't the virtually trustworthy. Once a night of drinking led to his friends stealing his keys and pulling a prank on him. He'd too misplaced his keys a few times. All of this to say, his negligence led to the theft of jewels worth $20 million.
Amelia Earhart's Plane
Amelia Earhart famously became the first woman to complete a solo flight across the Atlantic Ocean—as well as the first person to fly solo to Hawaii from the mainland The states. Her next challenge? Unfortunately, circumnavigating the globe in her twin-engine Lockheed 10E Electra didn't go as well.
In July of 1937, Earhart merely… vanished. Somewhere over the Pacific Ocean, almost a refueling cease on Howland Island. Just seven,000 miles from Oakland, California—where she'd initially taken off. Stranger even so, her aeroplane wreckage has never been recovered.
Many theories—and conspiracies—accept cropped up around this lost-at-sea pilot. Some believe Earhart survived for a time on Nikumaroro (formerly Gardner Isle), where a piece of Plexiglas potentially from the Electra's window was institute.
Holy Chalice
From Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989) to The Da Vinci Code (2006), the Holy Chalice has been the subject of innumerable popular civilisation quests. The chalice is so coveted because it's the loving cup Jesus drank from, or served wine from, at the Last Supper. Others believe it was also the vessel used to collect Jesus's blood at his Crucifixion.
Despite its ties to Christianity, the chalice became then sought-subsequently due to its association with a magical item from Arthurian literature—the Holy Grail.
The interwoven stories of the Holy Chalice and Grail inspired several claims that medieval relics, such equally the Valencia Chalice and the Genoa Beaker, are The vessels in question. Yet, the location—and existence—of the Holy Chalice is still upward for debate amongst scholars.
Peking Man
The "Peking man" is a name given to an extinct hominin of a species you may know—Man erectus. Back in 1927, an anthropologist identified the Peking human being every bit office of homo lineage, thanks to findings from a single tooth found almost Beijing. According to the mandibles, limb basic, and teeth uncovered past researchers, these characters walked the globe about 770,000 to 230,000 years agone. And then the fossils walked out, too.
Well, sort of. About lxx years ago, the Peking man fossils vanished. The fossils were kept at Peking Matrimony Medical College, but in 1941 researchers feared that the Japanese invasion would put the fossils in danger.
They did what whatsoever responsible scientist would exercise: they tried to smuggle the fossils out of Communist china and to the presumably safer U.s.. Simply the boxes of bones never fabricated their connecting flying. Ane small step for man—and one giant setback for human evolution research.
Florentine Diamond
Weighing in at 137 carats, this next contender gives the (fictional) Heart of the Ocean a run for its money. This nine-sided 126-facet double rose cut diamond is pale yellow in color and hails from India. But despite researchers' knowledge of its origins, its path through history is but as nebulous equally its current whereabouts.
The outset reported sighting of the Florentine Diamond dates back to the late 1400s when the Duke of Burgundy fell in battle while wearing information technology. After that, the diamond made its fashion to Italy: its declared owners included Pope Julius Two and the Medici family unit.
In 1736, Maria Theresa of Republic of austria acquired it when she married the Duke of Tuscany, making the Florentine Diamond role of the Austrian crown jewels.
During Globe War I, the ownership records get messy: some say the Germans stole it. Others say the purple family fled with it, only to have it stolen and sent to Due south America where it was presumably sold and recut.
Buddhas of Bamyan
Hewn from sandstone cliffs, the Buddhas of Bayman were two statues—one 115 feet and the other 174 feet tall—of Gautam Buddha. Located in the Hazarajat region of Afghanistan, these monuments dated dorsum to the 6th century. These impressive Silk Route statues survived the campaign of Genghis Khan to get a UNESCO Globe Heritage Site. But, in 2001, the statues met a harrowing fate.
On orders from Mullah Mohammed Omar, members of the Taliban destroyed the statues in a dynamite blast. Since they were Buddha statues, the Taliban considered them "idols" and shot at them with anti-aircraft artillery. The resilient statues withstood explosives and rocket launchers, before somewhen falling victim to the Taliban's iconoclasm.
Pyramid at Nohmul, Belize
Located on the Yucatán Peninsula, Nohmul (or Noh Mul) is a Maya archeological site in what is now modern-solar day Belize. The land is known for its lush rainforests and beautiful coral reefs, but what actually put it on the map was that it is home to ane of the 15 aboriginal Maya sites in the world. Unfortunately, the site inverse dramatically in 2013.
The main pyramid (similar to the one pictured to a higher place) once towered over the site, coming in at roughly 60 feet alpine. But a construction visitor responsible for building nearby roads bulldozed the pyramid and other mounds in club to use the gravel. Now, the main pyramid is gone.
SInce Maya sites are protected past police force, officials in Belize program to those responsible for the destruction to court. Nonetheless, the losses are irreparable.
Plato'due south Hermocrates
Similar every business-savvy author, Plato was in information technology for a three-book bargain. Or, that is, his hypothetical dialogue Hermocrates was meant to circular out the trilogy he started with Timaeus and the unfinished Critias. So, what exactly are these dialogues?
They're sort of like monologues delivered by the titular characters. For example, Timaeus is a potentially invented figure who speculates about the nature of the physical world. Critias is a bit more exciting: It recounts how the kingdom of Atlantis tried to conquer Athens.
Historians can simply speculate almost Hermocrates. The speaker might have been the Syracusan politician and full general of the aforementioned proper name. It might've shed light on naval powers and strategy.
Though we prefer the interpretation institute in Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis video game, wherein Hermocrates details the location and culture of Atlantis.
The Complete Bayeux Tapestry
This impressive tapestry dates back to the 11th century and measures in at 230 feet long and 165 feet tall. And it uses all that surface expanse to depict the Norman conquest of England. For seven centuries the tapestry remained safely in the Bayeux Cathedral. In 1792, it was virtually cut into pieces and used as coverings for soldier's carts. Luckily, it escaped that dire fate—for a fourth dimension.
Since information technology's removal from the cathedral, the concluding panel(s) appears to be missing. Though it transferred hands several times during Globe War 2—from clandestine shelters to German research facilities and, finally, to the Louvre in Paris—it remained relatively unscathed. Still, the question of how the tapestry's narrative ended has puzzled historians.
A team of embroiders worked tirelessly to fill in the gaps. In 2014, they completed panels that depicted what happened after William the Conqueror won the Battle of Hastings. And though the replica panels match the fashion of the tapestry, we'll never know what the originals illustrated.
Gospel of Eve
Though there are thought to be around 20 "Lost Gospels," the Gospel of Eve is by far the most intriguing—and controversial. Though fragments of some Lost Gospels exist, others were either completely lost to the ages or purposely destroyed past the Catholic Church. And then, why weren't these gospels added to the Bible?
According to the church building, they were excluded for either A) existence of unknown origin, or B) being authored by heretics. Desire to know all about Eve? Well, that'south a bit tricky. It's unclear if a copy of Eve's gospel exists these days.
The quotes we do take from the Gospel of Eve betoken that the text advocated for tenants of "free dear"—from polyamory to birth control—and mentioned (gasp) the menstrual cycle.
Bayt al-Hikmah (House of Wisdom)
The Bayt al-Hikmah, or Business firm of Wisdom, could certainly challenge the Library of Alexandria for the championship of "Greatest Repository of Knowledge" (Working Title). Established in Baghdad during the 8th century, this impressive library was also a cultural heart for astronomers, philosophers, mathematicians, translators and inventors.
Byzantine researchers were sent to report at this renowned establishment. Several languages, including Arabic, Farsi, Aramaic, Hebrew, Syriac, Greek, and Latin, were spoken at the facility. The House of Wisdom truly embodied the merging of intellect, traditions, and cultures from many nations.
But Bayt al-Hikmah met a tragic stop when the Mongols invaded during the 13th century, killing the scholars and dumping the books in the Tigris River. It is said that the river flowed reddish and black for days from all the claret and ink.
Yongle Encyclopedia
The Yongle Encyclopedia, or Yongle Dadian, was Cathay's—and the globe's—largest encyclopedia when information technology was finished in 1408. Arranged by field of study into 22,877 juan (sections), the text was jump into a whopping 11,095 volumes. But this beautifully illustrated collection went the fashion of the residual of the objects on our list.
During the 1500s, it was moved to the Forbidden City for protection. The emperor ordered it copied and, not long after, the original was lost, or scattered. Some historians believe the Yongle Encyclopedia was destroyed in a fire that swept through the Forbidden City during a rebellion. Others posit information technology was buried with an emperor. A third theory suggest information technology burned in the Qianqing Palace fire.
Now, only 400 volumes remain. And its "World's Largest Encyclopedia" title has been claimed by Wikipedia.
Ur-Hamlet
This to a higher place all: to thine ain self be truthful—unless you can discover a wealth of inspiration in someone else. In that case, soak in their work and way your own in its footsteps. You heard that right. William Shakespeare's Hamlet is not as original every bit your English instructor may take claimed. Starting time of all, Hamlet is based on a Norse fable. But, more than importantly, information technology's based on another play.
Most researchers agree that Shakespeare based his famous tragedy on a play by Thomas Kyd, known as Ur-Hamlet. Of course, equally fate would have information technology, no re-create of Ur-Hamlet exists. All we actually know is that it was performed in London, meaning Shakespeare was (more than than likely) in the know almost it.
This OG-Hamlet was also a tragedy that contained a line shouted by a ghost. That line? "Hamlet, revenge!" Very "brevity is the soul of summary," if you ask us.
Jack the Ripper's "From Hell" Letter
Jack the Ripper is London's most infamous—and unidentified—serial killer. He had a disturbing penchant for murdering sex workers with anatomical percision, leading to his nickname. The "Jack the Ripper" title actually originated in a letter from someone claiming to be the series killer, though it was later accounted a hoax. The "From Hell" letter, however, is idea to exist authentic.
Why? When George Lusk, chairman of the Whitechapel Vigilance Committee, received the letter on October 15, 1888 it didn't come with chocolates or flowers. Instead, information technology arrived with one-half a human kidney. For this reason, of the thousands of letters allegedly sent from Jack the Ripper to the police, "From Hell" was believed to exist the existent deal.
Decades later, fingerprints on the letter might've helped experts crack the case. Simply some poor record-keeping procedures ruined that notion. The letter—and kidney—are lost, so don't expect the cast of Criminal Minds to solve this i anytime shortly.
Source: https://www.reference.com/history/lost-things-history?utm_content=params%3Ao%3D740005%26ad%3DdirN%26qo%3DserpIndex
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