Figure of the month: 15,000

Have you ever heard of Batu Khan? No, he's not the nephew of Indian superstar Shah Rukh Khan but the grandson of an even more famous man: Genghis Khan. He probably has this relationship to thank for the fact that he isn't as well known today as his grandfather – even though he himself was an extremely successful military leader.

From the Golden Horde to the golden stallion

Batu Khan was the ruler of the Golden Horde – a Mongolian khanate (territory) he founded that stretched from eastern Central Europe to western Siberia and was extremely rich in gold. This was made possible by a series of successful campaigns, e.g. against the Volga Bulgars in 1236 and the Russian Grand Prince in 1238. From 1241 to 1246, Batu Khan conquered Hungary and parts of Poland and Austria. Among the many myths surrounding the man, the one that is probably the most fascinating is that Batu Khan owned a favourite horse, a thoroughbred Arabian. When the stallion died unexpectedly, Khan was inconsolable and ordered that a horse be forged with the exact measurements of his stallion – from solid gold. 

Fact or fiction: experts are still puzzling over it today

One point in favour of the legend being true is the fact that the Golden Horde probably actually did gather enough gold to make the creation of a life-size golden horse possible. Its weight, however, gives rise to doubts: it's said that the golden replica of the deceased Arabian weighed around 15,000 kilograms. That heavy? Really? Well, gold is one of the heaviest elements in the world: one tonne of gold would only make a cube with sides of just 37 centimetres, and all the gold mined to date – around 212,000 tonnes – would easily fit into a cube with sides of just over 22 metres. Producing and erecting the golden stallion would therefore have been record-breaking achievements in more ways than one. To this day, no one has found the golden statue, and the history books provide no clues as to what might have happened to it. Many have searched for this extremely valuable work of art – and maybe, just maybe, one day someone will find the golden legacy of Batu Khan.