15 Most Impenetrable Bank Vaults
Bank heists are extremely difficult to pull off, no matter what Hollywood might have us believe. Some vaults are so secure that robbers have heart attacks even thinking about breaking in.
With that in mind, check out these 15 Most Impenetrable Bank Vaults from recent history and see to what extremes countries (and some private companies) will go to keep the deposits and valuables of their clientele absolutely protected.
1. Fort Knox – The United States Bullion Depository
2. The New York Federal Reserve Vault – World’s Biggest Gold Depository
The bank’s security systems are so trusted that even foreign governments use it for gold storage. And – as if that wasn’t enough – a Jason Bourne level protection force watch the perimeter; their shooting range scores are so good they’re better than marksmen.
3. The Bank of England Gold Vault
The vault walls are bombproof and so sturdy that bank staff used them for protection during WWII air raids. And when the vault doors do need to be opened, they can only be accessed by an elaborate system consisting of voice recognition, 3 foot keys and other unpublished security measures.
4. The London Silver Vaults
During WWII the bank around the vault was reduced to rubble due to a bomb strike, but the vault itself was undamaged. The vault itself is the very definition of the world “impenetrable.”
5. Teikoku Bank, Hiroshima – Atomic Bomb-Proof!
Once the U.S. government learned how to
control the finger of God, the first order of business was to wipe the
city of Hiroshima off the face of the planet. Skin melted from charred
flesh… buildings fell like towers of playing cards… grass was parched to
dust… water evaporated immediately… and two Mosler bank vaults were
undamaged.
How’s that for an advertisement? Good
enough for the Mosler company to trumpet that their vaults could
withstand an atomic bomb in their advertising for the next 10 years.
6. The Gold Vault in Dubai
Dubai, known as the City of Gold, finished building a vault to hold all that metal in 2009. The vault is located in the Dubai Multi Commodities Center and incorporates the latest and greatest in security measures. Dubai is in the process of repatriating their gold from London now that they have one of the most secure facilities in the world.7. The legendary Swiss Vaults
8. The Iranian Gold Reserve
– Location Unknown
9. The Antwerp Diamond Center – World’s Most Secure Diamond Vault?
10. The JPMorgan Chase New York Gold Vault
11. The Federal Reserve Bank Vault of Cleveland
12. Codename: Priscilla Bank Vault – Atomic Bomb-Proof Vault #2!
This picture captures the aftermath of atomic bomb testing under the codename Priscilla that occurred in June, 1957 in the Nevada desert. What you don’t see in the picture is the bank vault that withstood the blast… another Mosler engineered vault. The 37-kiloton triggered blast did this to concrete and steel, but left the (unbreakable?) vault intact.13. The Broker Restaurant Antique Bank Vault in Denver, CO.
14. The Dominion Bank Vault
At it’s heyday in 1914, the Dominion Bank Building in Toronto, Canada was considered the most secure bank vault in the entire world. Because it was constructed on bedrock and wrapped by surveillance passages, tunneling into it was a practical impossibility. Maybe an Ocean’s 12 style infiltration would work… but let’s not forget the 40-ton vault door. The door was so airtight that a single hairpin would keep it from closing. Good luck cracking this vault.15. The Hard Rock Vault
The Hard Rock Vault, first opened in 2001, is guardian to hundreds of priceless musical treasures from Jimmy Hendrix’s Flying V to John Lennon’s handwritten lyrics for “Instant Karma.” It’s situated below Hard Rock Cafe London in what used to be Coutts Bank. In terms of security, the vault once held the Queen’s treasury before Coutts Bank was converted.
To break into it would have required inside knowledge of how to disarm the system. If the police can’t figure that out, then they should all be fired. Very likely, the police were paid off to act dumb and unable to investigate the obvious.
Before anyone flames this comment, I suggest you do some research. Because, if the Federal Reserve system has done what I have reason to believe they have done, we Americans are about to make a terrible discovery.
Note that there has not been a physical audit of the gold allegedly stored there since 1953. And given our government’s financial and economic shenanigans over the past years, no one can say for sure what’s so.
by Brinks Trucks.The vault was driven down below third level below ground and survived
with all its contents.
Speaking off vaults, I had access to many vaults over the past thirty plus years and know
very well how difficult it is to get in these vaults. I once tried to spin the combination open
just before opening time in the bank and the outside part came off and left me vulnerable.It took five hours of drilling direct into the combination area to gain access.It is the alarms were not turned off,the police could have easily reached there within that time.The strength of not gaining access is not through the door but someplace else.
Happy New Year, Richard
Richard quips that Frau Merkel (Angela Merkel, the current Chancellor of Germany) has it audited on a regular basis. I doubt Germany has title to it. Legally, it’s probably owned by the Federal Reserve.
I don’t think that all of this is neccesary, they are just showing off!
:~(
Supposedly, there is a regular “internal” audit of the gold at Ft. Knox and the gold in the vaults of the NY Fed. Not only is there the question of how much gold is in Ft. Knox/NY Fed vaults, but there the issue as to who owns it: The US Treasury or the Federal Reserve?
The vault was wide open, and is left that way all day apparently, and the entire group was able to enter, and even try to touch the gold by pushing finger through the gratings. The door into the gold storage room, just bars, was locked with a small everyday padlock and two other locks. The individual storage “cells” for the gold had combination locks, however were just steel barred doors.
Entry to the vault area was past a small office area, with a few older office people at desks. There were no robots, just manual scales used for weighing, and electric pallet jacks for lifting. From the street to the gold, was a single unsecured glass door, an elevator, a vault level door with a swipe card access, and then the steel doors through to what was described as billions of gold bullion.
Only 3 security guards were passed, all with small caliber handguns. Makes me think that this is not what it seems, and either a fake vault, or a location no longer carrying real gold, just gold painted bars.