. What first comes to mind for "vault" is the rather grand and heavy and shiny vault of the Winona Savings Bank in Winona, Minnesota. I blogged about this bank before in my post "The Lion Kings". I have some postcards of the bank, including one of the vault, from 1912 (to the right)There are also some photographs I have taken of the bank vault myself. However, I can't find any of them right now, so I will cheat and use a Wikimedia photo (below). This is little different from the photos I have taken of this vault I have seen many times. You will see how heavy and intricate this bank vault looks. Especially the door. I can't recall seeing anything like it elsewhere, except perhaps CGI creations such as in Gringott's (the goblins' bank) in the "Harry Potter" movies.
This vault was built by Diebold, the company now most famous for the controversial electronic voting machines. To this day, it looms behind the teller counter, making an ostentatious show of bank security for anyone who comes into the lobby. If that wasn't enough, a full-sized lion trophy looks down on the lobby as well.
The door itself weighs 22 1/2 tons and is 22 inches thick. Comparison to the man in the postcard photo would indicate that the door is 7 or 8 feet across.
8 comments:
Wow. Look at how thick those walls are! I'd hate to get locked in accidentally.
Bank goblins beat nose goblins any day. ;)
There is something unbelievable about bank vaults...like, nothing could be that insanely heavy and complicated...and still be breached on occasion!
That is an amazing vault - thanks for sharing.
Mighty tough. Makes you wonder why it was so easy to break into them. Oh wait, that was in the movies.
My kids and I were watching the first HarryPotter movie yesterday and I was thinking about the cool scene of the vault at Gringots.
I wish I could have gotten a picture of a bank vault. I love the way they work. Great examples, how did I know you would have a postcard.
Wow, I love these photos, especially that first one.
Really cool!
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