"The largest accumulation of gold in human history is located deep underneath the heart of Manhattan’s financial district, at the New York Federal Reserve Bank. Some 80 feet beneath sidewalk level, the Fed’s special vault is built into the bedrock and entrusted with deposits from central banks across the globe. Inside sits 7,000 tons of glittering gold bars—around 5 percent of all of the gold ever mined," the Atlas Obscura reports.

"The Fed considers each gold bar to be non-fungible and unique because of variations in purity and weight. As a result, they carefully track each of the deposits, so if you give them a particular bar you can later retrieve that exact one.

"Perhaps the most amazing thing about the New York Federal gold vault is that it offers public tours (although the website says that new bookings are currently unavailable). That’s remarkable, considering the security at similar facilities like the Gold Bullion Depository at Fort Knox, which “bars” the likes of reporters, members of Congress, and even former presidents."

"The New York Fed’s gold vault is on the basement floor of its main office building in Manhattan. Built during the construction of the building in the early 1920s, the vault provides account holders with a secure location to store their monetary gold reserves," the official website says.

"None of the gold stored in the vault belongs to the New York Fed or the Federal Reserve System. The New York Fed acts as the guardian and custodian of the gold on behalf of account holders, which include the U.S. government, foreign governments, other central banks, and official international organizations. No individuals or private sector entities are permitted to store gold in the vault.

"Much of the gold in the vault arrived during and after World War II as many countries wanted to store their gold reserves in a safe location. Holdings in the gold vault continued to increase and peaked in 1973, shortly after the United States suspended convertibility of dollars into gold for foreign governments. At its peak, the vault contained over 12,000 tons of monetary gold. Since that time, gold deposit and withdrawal activity has slowed and the vault has experienced a gradual but steady decline in overall holdings. However, the vault today remains the world’s largest known depository of monetary gold.

"As of 2019, the vault housed approximately 497,000 gold bars, with a combined weight of about 6,190 tons. The vault is able to support this weight because it rests on the bedrock of Manhattan Island, 80 feet below street level and 50 feet below sea level."

"Build sort of like a fortress, maybe a castle of money. Lots of power in this grand building that we stumbled upon while walking from Wall Street to City Hall."

"Very interesting guided tour. You get to know about Federal Reserve Bank structure, about NYC branch building, get to see the vault. Keep in mind it’s not very easy to book. Check the official site for details. Booking for specific date opens several weeks in advance at specific time. Since the tours have very limited capacity and demand is high, tours are fully booked in first minutes. So it’s worth setting a reminder a couple of minutes before the date you are interested in becomes available. Also note it’s not allowed to take photos inside, but you will leave with a lot of new memories)."

"The entrance doors have "Employee Only" signage so let the security officer on the sidewalk know you are there for the tour, and after an ID check, you are radioed in for clearance to enter and go through airport-type security check. Very easy. I was hoping to hear more about monetary policy but the tour is focused more on visiting the very impressive vault of gold. Still very welcoming, informative, and def worth my time for my 10th visit to NYC. You can tour the museum part while you wait for the tour to start and stay as long as you want after the tour to see it all. Restrooms in the back of it. I appreciated the 3 complimentary graphic novels available which explains the system to a younger audience."

"Very interesting and different way to spend an hour. Worth the planning to book and don’t forget your ID on the day."

"The tour itself was great. Led by the Lovely Anna, we had a great hour today. Really interesting and well presented and then down to see the largest amount of gold (1/4 of the global gold reserves) in one place. Well done and a little bag of shredded money at the end. Something different that doesn’t follow the masses and really enjoyable.Shame no pictures but understand why!"

"The Federal Reserve Bank of New York is one of the 12 Federal Reserve Banks of the United States. It is responsible for the Second District of the Federal Reserve System, which encompasses the State of New York, the 12 northern counties of New Jersey, Fairfield County in Connecticut, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Located at 33 Liberty Street in Lower Manhattan, it is by far the largest (by assets), the most active (by volume), and the most influential of the Reserve Banks.

"The Bank's underground gold bullion depository lies 80 feet (24 m) below street level and 50 feet (15 m) below sea level, resting on Manhattan bedrock. By 1927, the vault contained 10% of the world's official gold reserves. The vault (designed by Frederick S. Holmes) is the largest known and confirmed gold store in the world, and holds approximately 7,000 tonnes (7,700 short tons) of gold bullion, more than Fort Knox does.



"The gold does not belong to the Bank, which transferred all of its domestic gold reserves to the Treasury under the Gold Reserve Act of 1934. Nearly 98% of it belongs to the central banks of foreign governments. The rest belongs to the United States and international organizations such as the IMF. The Bank stores the gold at no charge, but charges for handling whenever it is moved. (Wikipedia)