First of all, let’s admit that we are all guilty of hoping for easy money. Pot of gold in the end of the rainbow, a lucky lottery ticket or a sudden heavy legacy from distant wealthy relative. But there is a way to win a fortune and get a real-life pirate experience. Treasure hunt is a way. Long time ago before e-money and Bitcoins became a thing, money existed only in a form of metal and jewels.

Every country has dozens if not thousands stories and legends about where to find some of the money, that was abandoned by it’s owner. Here some of many, that you can try your luck to find in Ukraine.

Treasures of the Crimean Khan Shagin-Giray

The Crimean peninsula for centuries was a place where Tatar khans kept money and jewels, gold and silver, jewelry and utensils. There were rumors that turned into legends, one of which is as follows: in the vicinity of the Khan’s palace in Bakhchisarai, gold and all the valuable belongings of Shagin-Girei, the last of the Khan dynasty, appeared.

Relatively recently, according to rumors, even the Security Service of Ukraine agency started digging around the palace, apparently looking for the treasures of the Crimean Khan. That proves the treasure is more than real.

Faltz-Fein’s millions

His dynasty is one of the richest landowners who have ever lived in Ukraine. He was the one who founded the Askaniya-Nova reserve, which is now the biggest Ukrainian flora and fauna’s guardians. Such a philanthropic gesture was made more from guilt than from a kind heart, because his methods of farming led to the famous Oleshkovsky sands in the south of Ukraine (the largest desert in Europe) .When he cut down 5000 hectares of forest, and grazed a sheep population of a million heads there, turning once thriving forest land into desert .

It remains to guess how much money was kept in the estate of the legendary family. The story only tells us that the treasures stored in the basements of the estate a week before the revolution of 1918 disappeared a few days before the raid and still not found. The servants of the then Baron, however, were fabulously enriched, they say that they received such a generous salary for keeping the secret of relocating the owner’s gold into safety.

Library of Yaroslav Mudruy (the Wise)

This treasure, it would seem, should be considered more cultural, as we are used to the fact that not the book itself, but content values. Not this time. Books of those times were written by hand, in a few, or even in one instance. They were decorated with gold, silver, velvet, rhinestones, figured glass. Now, books of that era would have been auctioned for more than $ 5 million.

The library of the most famous prince of Kiev Rus, Yaroslav, is one of the most controversial topics for scholars and archaeologists. According to the chronicles, the first library of Kiev Rus, located on the territory of St. Sophia Cathedral in Kiev. Expert say, the bookbank of St. Sophia Cathedral numbered more than 950 books.

Regarding the further fate of the library, the opinions of the researchers differ. Some believe that on the eve of the Mongol-Tatar invasion books dispersed through the libraries of various cathedrals and monasteries, and the rest think, they were gone in 1240 when Kiev was burned down to ashes.

Oleksa Dovbush’s hills

If you have to visit the Carpathians, then, no matter which side of the mountain you travel, local people will definitely show you places that are connected with the hero of the Carpathian legends – Olexa Dovbush. He gained the reputation of the Carpathian Robin Hood, taking away from the local feudal lords the surplus of wealth and distributing them among the poor. Because of this, he was often persecuted. This made him go undercover and hide, he moved only at night and only through secret underground tunnels connecting Carpathian villages and settlements. Many of his treasures are still in those tunnels. Often, his gold was found, but a small amount, since most of the tunnels are now plundered deliberately, at the initiative of the local authorities to ensure the safety of the population. Only with special guide and equipment you can try to go down there and try your luck with Dovbus`s gold.

Treasury and a Golden horse of Zaporozhsky Cossacks.

At the time of the heyday of the Hetmanate, the Cossacks were very rich people, but they were also warriors and often moved places. They hid their treasures until better times, but this is war, not all come back from the battlefield.

When the Cossacks were relocated to the Kuban, they, while waiting for a return, hid their collective funds, but not burying as usual, in a new way.. According to one of the many legends, the entire Zaporizhzhya treasury was hidden in the Skarbna (Treasure) river that flows into the Dnipro. Also, a legend shows that a golden horse was cast from coins. The horse was so big that it shined through river deapth, so they even had to pull it back from the waters to paint black. And now, 3 meters-high black horse made of pure gold is somewhere at the bottom of Dnipro.

Turkish golden carriage

Leaving Kamyanets-Podilsky, the Turks who ruled here for almost 27 years packed all of their goods – gold, silver into wagons and carriages. There were over 100 crews. One coil, made out of pure gold, was carrying more than just proviant, fur and leather, but diamonds and gold. It broke down and fell into the Smotrich River. They could not pull it out, and the diamond carriage with golden decorations in the river remained abandoned.

It is said that one cartographer who witnessed this case, noted on the map the place where the coach collapsed. This map later fell into the hands of Ukrainian researchers who received permission from the city authorities to find treasures, for which even changed the river bed of Smotrich, but unsuccessfully, it took more than 300 years, the water carried away whatever was there downstream. People still find gold coins on the riverside.