Lost Library of Ivan the Terrible

to contain rare Greek, Latin, and Egyptian works from the libraries of Constantinople and Alexandria, as well as 2nd-century CE Chinese texts and manuscripts from Ivan IV's own era.

as being underneath the Kremlin, and has become a source of interest for researchers, archaeologists, treasure-hunters, and historical figures such as Emperor Peter the Great and Napoleon Bonaparte.

"[2]: 304 Close to 80 years after Kurbskii wrote Maximus the Greek's biography the next mention of the lost library as well as a location appeared.

Livonian writer Franz Nyenstadt wrote about Johannes Wetterman, a German Protestant minister who established a church in Russia and met with Ivan IV.

Wetterman was summoned by Ivan IV not to look at a weapons arsenal but to look at ancient books that had been secured in a locked storeroom somewhere inside the Kremlin for well over a hundred years.

[citation needed] A 1724 report by Moscow Petty Official Konon Osipov mentions a discovery made by V. Makariev in 1682, who was ordered to go into a Kremlin secret passage and found a room full of trunks.

In 1893 Professor I.E. Zabelin wrote an article called "The Underground Chambers of the Moscow Kremlin" where he concluded that the library did exist there but that it was destroyed in the 17th century.

The article reports that Stelletskii found archives showing "two large rooms filled with treasure chests and known to exist under the Kremlin" half a century after the death of Ivan IV.

Peter the Great also attempted to locate the library hoping to find treasures that would help the treasury after his several years long involvement in wars.