What is the most secure vault in the world? While people would say it is shameful to value material things, it is also natural to want to keep these items safe and kept away from wandering hands. Most people hide these precious items in their homes, tucked deep inside an uncrackable safe, while others depend on security vaults used by banks to store money. There are many types of vaults in the world, ranging from a big vault to a small vault.
Over the course of human history, the variety of vaults began to increase in development. Countries and cultures began influencing one another, forming more advanced technologies guarding security vaults. Even today, most of us go out and look for the best safes in the world that we can afford. So if you can afford the most expensive safe, does it also mean it’s the most secure safe in the world? The logic in it would make sense, especially since it takes dedication and extreme professional skill to create even one secure vault.
It’s a shame that few know the critical techniques and hard work that go into making a secure vault. That is why, in this article, we discuss the 10 most famous vaults known for their security. You may be looking for the best safes in the world for your priceless treasures, or you’re simply curious as to what the world’s most secure vault could be protecting. Regardless, learning about all the feats of the human brain found in these vaults will allow you to admire the intelligence of humanity and appreciate the stories behind the production of their lifetime achievements.
The origin of vaults predates the banking system. Ancient Egyptians were the first to use security vaults. In the tomb of Ramses II, excavators discovered a security vault created from wood. The discovery provided physical evidence of security vaults existing as early as the 13th century. The Romans took it a step further, creating a locking system with fixed lugs. They created this locking system to protect their material goods. By the time of the Renaissance Era, the vaults are further improved with not only complex locking systems but also keys. Fast forward to the 18th century, alarm systems were created in the form of alarm bells, the earliest forms of modern alarm systems.
We can’t continue talking about the origins of vaults without discussing the engineers that laid the foundation for modern security systems. Thomas Milner (possibly Charles Chubb), Cyrus Price, and William Marr were engineers that developed businesses focusing on security during the 19th century. Their influence on the British Safe Industry allowed the modern vaults and alarm systems that many of the vaults have today.
Now that we know the origin of vaults and their necessity to society, why don’t we talk about the ten most secure vaults in the world? Unfortunately, there is no accurate scale to determine which of the ones listed is the most secure. This article gives you a gist of what it takes for a vault to compete with the elite few known to be almost impenetrable and extremely defensive.
Listed below are not just the names and history of each vault, but also what they are protecting. Now, are you ready to find out what the world’s most secure safe is protecting?
Fort Knox
Fort Knox is probably the most secure bank vault in the world. We can find the US Bullion Depository in Kentucky on the north of Elizabethtown and the south of Louisville. They named it after Henry Knox, the first secretary of war for the United States and the Chief of Artillery during the American Revolutionary War.
You might wonder how secure is Fort Knox, but the answer can’t truly be specified. This is because there are no accurate details on the specific measures taken inside and outside. There are only two confirmed methods regarding Fort Knox security: that a steel fence covers it and that walls were built to last modern warfare.
There’s a good reason for the strict safety measures inside Fort Knox. A gold vault may sound quite normal to you, but Fort Knox takes it up a notch by safeguarding 147 million troy ounces of gold for the United States. As a result, the official name of Fort Knox Bullion Depository is the United States Bullion Depository. Other people call it the Fort Knox Gold Depository as well. Aside from holding a large sum of a country’s money, it also keeps the original Declaration of Independence, the United States’ constitution, and the Bill of Rights during the World War.
Svalbard Seed Bank
The Svalbard Seed Bank, also known as the Global Seed Vault, is a secure vault located on a small island called Spitsbergen in Norway. Some people declare it to be the most secure building in the world. This modern bank vault holds samples of crops necessary to restart life on earth should an apocalyptic event occur. Svalbard Seed Bank can store 4.5 million varieties of crops. It currently holds 1,081,026 samples as of the year 2022.
The necessity for the Svalbard Seed Bank comes from the lack of proper reserves for food crops. About 1,700 gene banks do exist in other countries. However, their reserves can easily be damaged because of natural disasters, wars, and other unforeseen accidents. To ensure that most of the crops in the world can still be reborn, the Global Seed Bank exists as a backup for the world’s seeds in the event of a massive extinction for specific crops or even humankind itself.
Because of the necessity for its existence, the Svalbard Seed Bank is also located on an isolated island with extreme arctic climates. This serves three specific benefits for the Global Seed Vault. First, it allows long-term shelf life for the seeds stored inside the bank. Second, it acts as a natural defense because of the difficulty of accessing it. Third, the Svalbard Seed Bank is high above sea level, ensuring its safety.
Granite Mountain serves both as a majestic view and a tightly shut secure vault no one can simply enter. It’s possible you only saw these types of safes in movies like the National Treasure series and think they are entirely fictional, but they do exist. Granite Mountain can be found near Salt Lake City, Utah in the United States. The Church of Latter-day Saints built the Granite Mountains Records Vault in 1965 to preserve necessary documents for the Church. Included in the Granite Mountains Records Vault is an impressive amount of data regarding family histories.
Granite Mountain is more widely known for its 3.5 billion images on microfiche, digital media, and microfilms. The vast collection has been in agreement with various libraries, churches, and archives spanning hundreds of countries around the globe. Copies of records in the records vault are freely given to those who follow their procedures. The Church of Latter-day Saints offers a free family website called FamilySearch, which takes records from Granite Mountain and launches them publicly for people looking for their relatives or data that they have lost. It is effective enough to even help the people of the Niue Islands, who were hit by a natural disaster in 2004, losing almost all of their records.
Since the records change lives, the Granite Mountain Records Vault is heavily guarded with it stationed 600 feet deep in the mountain with an environment-controlled facility. Even more so, simply entering through the Granite Mountain’s doors without permission is almost impossible. This is because the booth doors individually weigh a maximum of 14 tons. For reference, these doors are durable enough to withstand nuclear blasts.
Iron Mountain Vault
The Iron Mountain Vault is the biggest vault in the world. It’s a secure vault hidden underneath the mountain nicknamed “The Underground”, which goes as deep as 220-feet. It expands as far as 1.8 million square feet.
You could find the Iron Mountain Vault in the abandoned limestone mine from Boyers, Pennsylvania. Similar to Granite Mountain, Iron Mountain contains a temperature-controlled location that is heavily protected by armed guards. The difference between Iron Mountain and Granite Mountain is the documents that they contain. Iron Mountain protects valuable records that could alter lives and information for the world. Iron Mountain holds the wills of Princess Diana of Wales, Charles Darwin, and Charles Dickens. They also contain Bill Gates‘ Corbis photographic collection, which the Iron Mountain keeps stored at a cold-temperature cave.
So how far does Iron Mountain go to protect the world’s most important documents? The armed guards of Iron Mountain continuously monitor the location similar to Federal Reserve Police. In addition, a variety of environment-controlled caves are set up with humidity conditions ranging from medium to extended terms. You can even request your private vault within Iron Mountain, of course with some financial costs. The only access to Iron Mountain is a 3-ton gate with the guards constantly guarding the area with state-of-the-art surveillance systems.
Cheyenne Mountain
Cheyenne Mountain follows Granite Mountain as one of the natural structures used to create a secure vault. The Cheyenne Mountain is located in El Paso, Colorado. Among the mountain range contains the Cheyenne Mountain Complex, which formerly held the Cheyenne Mountain Space Exploration and a defensive bunker with the ability to withstand nuclear blasts. Cheyenne Mountain Complex is currently being used as an air force station, a backup center, and a training center.
The facility has been used for years as a military base for various forces such as the NORAD, Air Force Systems Command, Federal Emergency Management, the Air Weather Service, the US Space Command, and the Aerospace Defense Command. Because of its advanced communication system, it was once used as a communication for the US Civil Defense Warning Center. Historically speaking, Cheyenne took part in monitoring the airspace of the United States and Canada in the case of a foreign aircraft.
Because of its previous housing of important military bases, the Cheyenne Mountain has heavy security systems that cannot be found anywhere else. People working in Cheyenne Mountain comfortably do their jobs behind a pair of 25-ton doors with the ability to withstand 30-megaton impact blasts. This would mean that the atomic bomb that landed on Nagasaki would have to strike at the area at least a thousand times before it could even crack the gates. It’s even hidden safely 2,000 feet deep into the natural granite of Cheyenne Mountain. Because of the lack of air, they manually filtered it through so the employees could breathe the cleanest air in the world.
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