Visited by thousands of tourists from around the world, Bled is one of Slovenia’s most popular and well-known tourist destinations. Few visitors, however, realize that Bled’s scenic glacial lake has long inspired legends about unusual treasures hidden deep beneath its surface.

One of those legends dates back to 1534. That’s when a young widow decided to dedicate a special memorial to her husband, who had been killed by bandits and had his body thrown into the lake. According to the legend, she had all her gold and silver melted down to create a bell for the church in the middle of Lake Bled. Unfortunately, the boat delivering the bell capsized and the bell sunk to the bottom of the lake.

Distraught, the woman joined a monastery. According to the legend, the Pope sent a replacement bell to Bled, and it became the town’s famous wishing bell, now beloved by tourists. However, the bell that was lost in the lake is still said to be heard ringing late at night. Each year, a ceremonial bell-raising marks the legendary events from half a millennium ago.

Other legends connected with the lake are of a more recent vintage. During World War II, when Lake Bled was a part of German-occupied territory, the town was an important communications center for the Nazis. The Gestapo and other German authorities had offices in Bled, and after the Nazis left Slovenia, they supposedly disposed of a top-secret Enigma coding machine – a key part of German intelligence activities -- in the lake. Several underwater expeditions to recover the Enigma have been organized, but no trace of the famed device has ever been found. Another legend concerns large quantities of Nazi gold supposedly hidden in the lake after World War II. The gold has proved to be just as elusive, but that didn’t stop the Slovenian writer Tone Svetina from capturing the public’s attention by writing about it in his popular works of historical fiction.

Despite these failed explorations of Lake Bled’s legendary treasures, an object of even greater significance was recently discovered in the lake: a gold ornament dating back to the Bronze Age – the oldest gold object ever found in Slovenia.