Striking it rich in lower Manhattan

Aside from teaching us that Chester A. Arthur was the 21^st President of the United States, “Die Hard: With A Vengeance” also gave many of us our first glimpse at the contents of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York on Wall Street. 

Eighty feet below the bank, resting on the very bedrock of Manhattan Island, you’ll find the gold vault, which today contains 25% of the world’s gold bullion.  Built during construction of the Federal Reserve building in the 1920s, the gold vault is now the largest stockpile of monetary gold in the world. 

Individuals or private businesses are not allowed to store gold in the vault; rather, it is a heavily-guarded fortress for the gold reserves belonging to US and foreign governments, central banks, and other international organisations.   

The majority of the gold came to the Federal Reserve after WW2, and at its peak the 122 compartments in the vault were safeguarding 12,000 tonnes of gold in total. 

The NY Federal Reserve runs free tours for the public, and a visit to the gold vault is included.  Maybe somebody should have mentioned that to Jeremy Irons and his goons, and saved them a whole lot of trouble.  Yippee-ki-yay!