All that glitters is definitely gold in a new exhibition at Germany’s central bank that lifts the veil on the nation’s massive reserves of the precious metal, partly to reassure skeptics that the prized ingots are really there.

Europe’s top economy and export powerhouse has the world’s second-largest gold reserves after the United States, but for decades almost none of the roughly 3,400 tonnes of yellow metal, worth a staggering 117 billion euros ($145 billion) today, could be found on German soil.

To keep the gold safe from a possible Soviet invasion during the Cold War, as well as for other historical reasons, the bars were instead stored in the treasuries of central banks in New York, London, and Paris.

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