Almost 50 kilometers from Tipaza, the capital of Algeria, there is a huge stone tent in the shape of a circle. The height of this tent is 40 meters, the diameter is 64 meters. With such an impressive size, this structure can be seen from afar. It was built about two thousand years ago from stone blocks, each weighing one hundred kilograms. The first and, perhaps, the last reliable information about this mysterious burial ground was found in the records of Pomponius Mela, a Roman historian who lived in the first century of our era. But there are many legends about this mysterious sight.
The most famous legend tells that the daughter of the Queen of Egypt Cleopatra and the conqueror from Rome Mark Antony was buried in this tomb. The girl's name was Cleopatra Selena. She died at the age of 35. Her husband was the Moorish ruler Yuba II. He bequeathed to bury himself next to his wife in the same crypt. This story can be found in Pierre Benois's novel Atlantis. The French writer calls the grave of the Roman woman in his work "a mysterious pyramid."
Other legends tell of countless treasures hidden somewhere near the grave. According to one of the legends, once upon a time a fairy lived on the shore of a local lake. She possessed those mysterious treasures that are still looking for today. The fairy hid her jewelry in this stone tent. Once one of the local shepherds noticed that one of his cows went somewhere every night. One evening, he followed her and discovered a secret tomb. And in it are the very treasures of the fairy. The shepherd collected as much good as could fit in his hands. He wanted to return once more for the prey, but he could no longer find the entrance to the mysterious place.
Several times, as other legends say, the Roman women tried to destroy the Tomb. One of the rulers of Algeria in 1555 ordered his slaves to get inside the stone tent in any way and take out all the treasures from there. He armed the slaves with pickaxes and ordered them to break the grave if necessary. But as soon as people approached the stone structure, a woman in white clothes appeared at the very top. She, using a magic spell, sent huge mosquitoes to the slaves. After such unexpected protection, the slaves only had to return as soon as possible.
The same unsuccessful attempt to destroy the stone tent ended with cannon firing at it. Such an order was given by one Turkish Pasha in the 18th century. His soldiers began shelling the outer wall of the grave, but only potholes appeared on it - the tent stood indestructible in place. The next person who wanted to take advantage of the fairy's treasures was the French emperor Napoleon III. He went on and ordered to blow up the tomb. And again she withstood the explosions of powder charges, and only turned a little black from the soot.
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When in the second half of the 19th century, scientists began to investigate the tomb in more detail, they were able to find several doors in its lower part. They were walled up, but thanks to deep drilling it was still possible to open one of them. The other three doors turned out to be fake.
New mysteries awaited the scientists outside the door. No treasures were found there. But they concluded that someone had somehow managed to plunder the grave. Archaeologists were able to walk along numerous corridors, which were a kind of labyrinth. And they also concluded that, perhaps, this whole labyrinth is also a fake, designed to "divert one's eyes" from the true location of the treasures.