Trivandrum is home to a huge, beautiful, and, most importantly, the most expensive temple in the world – the Padmanabhaswamy Temple. It is one of the most revered shrines of the Hindu deity Mahavishnu. Besides, it is listed among the 11 obligatory places for the pilgrims that set out on a journey across the sacred destinations.

The temple, or to be precise, its predecessor, was built in the 6th century. It was a small richly embellished building. But after 10 centuries the local kings decided to rebuild it and turned it into an authentic architectural gem. It was at that time that they, according to legend, left their treasures in the temple as an offering for the goods.

Indians aren’t hungry for money, so they believed in the legend but didn’t attempt to find the treasure. But in 2011, one of the employees of the historical museum suggested conducting complete cataloging of the valuable artifacts of the temple, as there were enough of them even without the treasure-trove. They created a special committee that started its work. Literally in the first two months, the museum workers found six huge secret vaults that were hidden behind metal doors, rusted and decorated with ancient reliefs and paintings.

When the researchers opened five of the six doors, they saw some untold riches: bags filled with ancient golden coins, diamonds, precious stones, golden and diamond jewelry. These were the offerings to gods from the ancient kings.

But the priests of the temple, even before the doors to the vaults were opened, had alerted that any interference into the secrets of the Padmanabhaswamy Temple could result in misfortune. Either the curse worked, or it was just a coincidence, but within a month one of the researchers died, the mother of another one passed away.

The magic of the temple started to attract not only locals but tourists as well. Unfortunately, if you don’t follow Hinduism, you are allowed to enter only at special hours. Besides, men have to wear a special national waist garment, women – sarees. You can rent all this in the temple. But you will have to leave your smartphone, purse, and other things in the locker. One can either enter the Padmanabhaswamy Temple with gifts or with nothing.