13 undiscovered treasures of Ukraine: do they exist and where are they hidden?

According to most historians, only 1% of the treasures hidden in Ukraine have been found on the territory of the modern country. Archaeologists, lovers of antiquity, and modern gold hunters are ready to dig anything and everywhere in search of Scythian gold or unique things that belonged to hetmans and Polish princes. One would only know where to dig. This article contains the most interesting legends and real stories about the undiscovered treasures of Ukraine.

Varangian treasures in the Lavra

Caves of the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra

Historians and archaeologists are still debating how the caves in the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra appeared. According to the most realistic version, they were dug by the monks themselves, who decided to distance themselves from worldly life. The caves are connected in labyrinths that supposedly lead to the Varangian caves. During the period of Kievan Rus’ existence, the Varangians hid treasures from looted merchant ships in one of them.

Much later, the monks discovered the Varangian wealth and dispersed it in several caves. It is believed that the values were divided into four parts. One was found during the reign of the Russian Tsar Peter I. To find out the hiding place, Lavra monks were brutally tortured. Another one — a niche with coins and gold utensils — was discovered during the renovation of the Lavra already in the 20th century. The third was presented to the world by the earthquake in Kyiv in 1975. Then one of the church walls, behind which two chests were hidden, cracked.

The fourth part of the Varangian treasures is still waiting for archaeologists and historians somewhere in the tangled labyrinths of the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra.

Treasures of the Crimean Khan Shagin Gerai

From left to right: a coin with the inscription “Khan Shahin Gerai”, a commemorative imperial medal in honor of the annexation of the Crimea and the Kuban (1783), a portrait of the khan

Tatar khans kept various valuables in Crimea for centuries: jewelry, gold utensils, money, jewels, and coins. Of course, stories about great riches are overgrown with hundreds of legends. According to one of them, the Crimean Khan Shagin Gerai hid countless treasures in the vicinity of the Bakhchisarai Palace. Archaeologists and amateur diggers tried to find them, but so far to no avail.

Ancient Scythian gold

Scythian golden helmet of the IV century. to n. is.

Militant nomads and farmers, the Scythians left behind hundreds of burial mounds in which nobles were buried. According to traditions, the deceased’s wife, servants, horses (they were killed in advance), personal belongings, and luxury items were also lowered into the grave. All this was done in order to ensure a dignified life for the deceased in the world of the dead. Some of the mounds were looted over time, some were discovered by archaeologists, and some still remain unexplored and, in addition to gold jewelry, keep the secrets of past centuries and generations.

Treasures of Hetman Mazepa

Reserve “Hetman’s Capital” in Baturyn

Ivan Mazepa was one of the richest people in Europe. In fact, today he would be considered a billionaire since the total capital of the Hetman was estimated at about a million rubles at the time (compared to a billion dollars in the modern world). However, he never managed to use his treasures, because he spent his last days in poverty.

Mazepa’s money in gold, according to legends and historical data, was hidden in various places. Part of it is in the dungeons of Mazepa’s residence in Baturin, and part of it is in the village of Honcharivka, on the outskirts of the castle on the banks of the Seim River. A little more — near the Kyiv hotel “Salyut” and on the outskirts of Bakhmach (Chernihiv region).

Gold of Bohdan Khmelnytskyi

From left to right: a portrait of Bohdan Khmelnytskyi, his burial in the Illinsky Church

During the war with Poland, Khmelnytsky took all the gold looted in victorious battles to his residence in Subotov. According to confirmed historical data, he remelted precious metal and minted coins with the Ukrainian coat of arms. Unfortunately, they have not been found to this day, but they may be hidden in the tunnel between Subotov and Chigyrin. Currently, the tunnel is filled up, so it is impossible to reach it. There is another version, according to which some of the coins were buried in Subotov under the hill of Vovchiy Shpiel.

Legacy of Pavlо Polubotok

Pavlo Polubotok talks with Peter I in the Peter and Paul Fortress

During his lifetime, Hetman Polubotok was considered one of the richest people in Ukraine. His treasury included a collection of icons, precious jewelry, weapons, and gold. Having quarreled with Mazepa, Polubotok sided with Peter I, and after the death of Hetman Skoropadsky, he again began to defend the independence of Ukraine. This caused the displeasure of the Russian monarch.

Polubotok was taken into custody, and his property was confiscated. However, sometime before that, he managed to hide about 200,000 gold coins from the Bank of England, dividing them into several parts. One of them is allegedly located in the city of Hlukhiv, the other in Lyubech. But both have not been discovered yet.

Treasures of Oleksa Dovbush

Dovbush rocks

The treasure of Oleksa Dovbush is among the undiscovered treasures of western Ukraine. Hutsul Robin Hood, like his English counterpart, took the surplus from the rich and gave it to the poor. Oleksa came from a low-income stratum and therefore knew what it was like to live in need. The leader of the opryshks hid part of the loot in the Carpathian rocks, which later bore his name. Another part can be located under large boulders and in abandoned wells between rocks. By the way, they are located in the Dolyna district of the Ivano-Frankivsk region.

Cossack treasury from the island of Khortytsia

Reconstruction of Zaporizhzhya Sich

To Zaporizhzhia Sich, the Cossacks took all the goods that fell into their hands during the battles with the Tatars and Turks. Even in our times, weapons, household items, bottles, pipes, and jewelry that belonged to the Zaporozhians are found in Khortytsia. They sent part of the mine to replenish the treasury, and part of it was hidden in Sich. Each Cossack had his own hiding place. Cannons were filled with gold, which was then sunk in the Dnieper.

Zaporizhia Cossacks considered the forced resettlement to the Kuban to be a temporary phenomenon and believed that they would be able to return for their property, but they did not sue. According to some versions, they managed to take the gold out of Sichi. According to others, they are still waiting for archaeologists.

Treasures of Prince Jeremiah Vyshnevetskyi

From left to right: a portrait of Jeremiah Wyshnevetskyi, his probable ashes in a Polish church

The treasures of Vyshnevetsky should be located near the city of Lubny (Poltava region). The residence of Polish prince was located there. It was captured by the troops of Bohdan Khmelnytskyi, Jeremiah fled, and the gold remained under the ruins. At the end of the 19th century, it was possible to discover a tunnel under the fortress, but nothing was found in it, except for a few silver coins. It was dangerous to stay underground for a long time due to the lack of air, so the passage was blocked to avoid victims among amateurs digging into antiquity.

At the beginning of the 20th century, several more tunnels were discovered with the remains of Polish soldiers who were hiding from the Cossacks and apparently suffocated in the tunnels. But Vishnivetskyi’s countless riches were never found.

Gold of Danylo Apostol

Monument to Danylo Apostol in the village of Velyki Sorochyntsi

He was the last hetman who relied on Zaporizhia Cossack traditions. The apostle directly declared to Peter I that the political methods of Russia are barbarism and Asianism and that his policy prevents the normal life and development of neighboring countries. As you can see, nothing much has changed since that time.

Danylo Apostol was a wealthy man: Mazepa gave him land in Velikie Sorochyntsi, and Apostol built a luxurious estate and the Church of the Transfiguration. He stored gold, jewels, and other things in a network of dungeons. There are also hidden collections of weapons, silver and gold dishes, and paintings that have not been found to this day.

Gold sovereigns of the Black Prince

Anchors and chains raised at the wreck of a British ship

In the fall of 1854, at the height of the Crimean War, the English ship “Black Prince” sank in a storm near Balaclava. It was believed to be carrying ammunition, medicine, and clothing for the soldiers. Even later, information appeared that on board there were also barrels with gold sovereigns, which made up the wages of English soldiers. During Soviet times, divers repeatedly conducted search operations, but never found anything valuable, except for a few coins and some household items.

Gold of Nestor Makhno

Nestor Makhno

The whole life of Nestor Makhno is shrouded in secrets and legends. Only one thing is known for sure – the revolutionary managed to keep his army clothed, armed, and fed. For this, another domestic Robin Hood robbed banks and rich landowners. He kept his assets in royal gold coins. Having received a military fiasco, he spent the last part of his life in the suburbs of Paris, sitting in the support of the Union of Anarchists.

The reason is simple — Makhno hid all his savings in Ukraine. It is believed that these were whole buckets of gold, which the leader of the Makhnov region buried everywhere he set foot. These are the Zaporizhia forests near Gulyaipol, and the small town of Starobilsk in the Luhansk region. The NKVD, by the way, claimed that Nestor Ivanovich’s assistants visited the sites of bookmarks, but were arrested with two full buckets of gold. No one knows where everything else is.

Gold reserves of the State Bank of the Ukrainian SSR

Employees of the NKVD of the USSR

Shortly before the occupation of Kyiv by fascist troops, the Soviet authorities evacuated the entire gold reserve of Ukraine, which was located in a building on Instytutska Street. It contained 500 kg of jewels and 4 tons of gold bars. They were transported by two trucks in the direction of the village of Zgurivka, Kyiv region. They buried it somewhere on the outskirts because it was dangerous to go further due to being surrounded by Germans.

During the Second World War, all the archives of the South-Western Front magically dissolved into thin air along with the coordinates of the place where the treasure was buried. Of the participants in that operation, only the driver survived, who could not remember the place where the gold was hidden. Gold prospectors are still trying to comb the area, but to no avail.