In the German state of Bavaria, the town of Nördlingen became famous for discovering things hidden under buildings. That is the volume of diamonds up to 72,000 tons, making this town one of the most “sparkling” places on the planet.

The small town is covered with 72,000 tons of diamonds. Photo: karmin.tocka.com.mk

THE MYSTERY OF THE ORIGIN OF HUGE DIAMOND NUMBERS

The Smithsonian magazine said that the amount of diamonds here covered the town, they appeared about 15 million years ago. At that time, an asteroid traveling at a speed of nearly 25km/s collided with Earth and created millions of diamond particles, which were scattered across the area that is now the town of Nördlingen.

Geologists estimate the size of the asteroid to be about 1km, reaching a mass of nearly 3 billion tons. When the asteroid made contact with Earth, it created tremendous heat and pressure, forming a coarse-grained rock called Suevite, composed of glass, crystal crystals and diamonds.

The Suevite rock from the asteroid that hit the Earth contains glass, crystals, and diamonds. Photo: BBC

In AD 898, when people first settled here, they used the coarse-grained stone available in this town to build houses and many other structures. Little did they know that the land they were in had higher reserves of diamonds than anywhere else on the planet.

It was not until 1960 that the people of Nördlingen knew that they were living with a lot of diamonds and that they came from an asteroid, not from a volcanic eruption.

The inhabitants of Nördlingen built the church from Suevite stone containing diamonds. Photo: mapcarta.com

Today, this town all knows it is “sitting” on a huge treasure. Coming to Nördlingen, you will see buildings or streets that seem to sparkle. People also build famous architectural works with precious materials, typically Church of Saint George. The amount of diamonds used for this Church alone amounted to 5,000 carats – an unimaginable number.

72,000 tons of diamonds do not make money

Why is the whole town covered with diamonds but in reality brings nothing to the money? The reason is because the diamonds are less than 0.3 mm in diameter, too small and have no economic value.

The people of Nördlingen were used to living with diamonds but couldn’t mine them. To them, sparkling stones are nothing special. However, they decided to develop tourism for their small town.

Many tourists from all over the world have come here to visit this sparkling land. In addition to the town’s diamonds, the Ries Crater Museum is also a destination that attracts many visitors.

Nördlingen in addition to diamonds also has many interesting places to visit. Photo: bavaria.by

Currently, the town of Nördlingen is inhabited by about 20,000 people. With many works with unique architecture, this place attracts many tourists to explore and experience. Geologist Hölzl at the Ries Crate Museum talks about the town where he works as a special place. There are a few places in the world that use materials from our own planet, but you won’t find as many as in Nördlingen.

You can easily sign up for tours in this beautiful little town. Can’t get diamonds but walking on diamonds or touching diamond pieces is not a bad idea. In Nördlingen it is often joked that tourists coming here are rich enough just to breathe.