Germany's Nordlingen: The Ancient Town Standing on Millions of Tonnes of Diamonds

The town of Nordlingen in Germany's Bavaria region stands on millions of tonnes of diamonds. Built inside a vast crater created by an ancient asteroid impact, the town has tiny diamonds scattered through almost every corner of it.

The town sits on top of a huge meteorite impact crater. The first settlement in the area was established in 898 AD.

In the Middle Ages, a high wall was built around the town to protect it from attack. Nordlingen is today one of only three towns in Germany whose medieval wall remains intact.

According to scientists, the intense heat and pressure of the impact created a special rock called suevite, made of a mixture of crystal, glass and tiny diamonds.

The town's historic church was built from this very suevite, and researchers believe around 5,000 carats of diamonds are embedded in its walls.

Researchers estimate that some 72,000 tonnes of tiny diamonds are embedded or scattered across the whole of Nordlingen.

The only catch is that the diamonds are so small that they have virtually no economic value on the market.