Fort Knox

The United States Bullion Depository, often known as Fort Knox, is a fortified vault building located adjacent to Fort Knox, Kentucky, used to store a large portion of United States official gold reserves and occasionally other precious items belonging or entrusted to the federal government. The United States Bullion Depository holds 4,578 metric tons (5,046.3 short tons) of gold bullion (147.2 million oz. troy). This is roughly 3% of all the gold ever refined throughout human history. Even so, the depository is second in the United States to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York's underground vault in Manhattan, which holds 7,000 metric tons (7,716 tons) of gold bullion (225.1 million oz. troy), some of it in trust for foreign nations, central banks and official international organizations. In 007: Fort Knox played a key role in the plot for the film Goldfinger, whereby the aptly-named villain planned on detonating a nuclear bomb inside the heavily-guarded fortress. Cool Fact: In reality, Fort Knox is one of the world’s most secured buildings. First of all, it’s on a military base. Second, there’s a gold vault that’s lined with granite walls below the fort itself. This is protected by a 22-ton blast-proof door (along with several other layers of defense). In order for members of the depository to get access to the vault they must dial separate combinations that only they know. So, yeah, good luck with that would-be super-villains.