A set of 16th-century royal burial regalia concealed in a niche under a staircase for nearly a century has been recovered from the Vilnius Cathedral in Lithuania. The gold crowns, rings and other accessories have been missing since 1939, when they were hidden at the start of World War II.
A team of experts found the objects on Dec. 16 while using an endoscopic camera to peer into holes, fissures and cavities in the walls of the cathedral's underground chambers. The discovery was announced at a press conference Monday (Jan. 6).
