Padmanabhaswamy Temple in southern India recently opened a series of secret underground vaults and discovered more than $11 billion dollars worth of donations - mostly gold jewelry and coins. The treasure trove at the Hindu temple in Kerala dates from roughly the 16th century through about 1880, when the vaults were sealed.

Since the discovery of this pre-British Raj horde, security around the temple has been ramped up considerably. It will be interesting to see whether the temple keeps the treasure on-site, or donates it to a museum.

Photo by Dilip Muralidaran on Flickr.com.

Are you looking for a primer on Korean history? Tired of stuffy museums? Try the "Museum without Walls" - the city of Gyeongju, in Gyeongsang Province, South Korea.

Gyeongju was the capital of the Silla Kingdom (57 BCE - 935 CE) during the "Three Kingdoms" Period. Among the most impressive remains of its storied past are the Tumuli, burial mounds of the kings; the Cheomseongdae observatory; Bulguksa temple; and (my favorite) the lovely Buddha figure in Seokguram cave.

Photo by Richardfabi via Wikimedia Commons.

Current President Benigno Aquino of the Philippines is denying a request to allow the frozen body of former president Ferdinand Marcos to be buried in the Heroes' Cemetary outside of Manila.

Marcos is widely reviled as a dictator who squelched human rights, arrested and tortured his political opposition, stole billions from the national treasury, and rigged elections. He is also implicated in the summary execution of the current president's father, also named Benigno Aquino, in 1983.

Marcos died in exile in 1989; his body was shipped back from Hawaii to the Philippines in 1993. Since then, his frozen remains have been on display in his hometown of Batac in Ilocos Norte.

Photo from Hulton Archives / Getty Images.

South Korea staged a grand ceremony last week to welcome home 296 volumes of the Uigwe, a record of the Joseon Dynasty (1392-1910). French soldiers looted the Uigwe in 1866 from Ganghwa island, just west of Seoul, after the Koreans executed some French Catholic missionaries.

To celebrate the royal records' return, a procession wound its way to Gyeongbok Palace in Seoul. The parade route was lined with guards in traditional Joseon uniforms of red or blue.

Korean President Lee Myung-bak negotiated the return of the texts last fall at the Group of 20 Summit, in a private consultation with French President Nicolas Sarkozy. It comes on the heels of Japan's decision in May to return some 1,200 stolen Korean texts.

Photo by mendhak on Flickr.com.