What do you mean you’ve never heard of the lost civilization of Great Tartaria? It’s only one of the weirdest architectural conspiracy theories going. It seems there has been a monumental cover-up to hide the truth from us all about an ancient empire that’s hiding in plain sight all around us – or so a fast-growing group of pseudo internet historians would have us believe. A kingdom so vast and architecturally sophisticated as to rival even the Roman empire, many of the world’s most famous architectural landmarks across the world are claimed to represent remnants of this lost empire. The Great Pyramids, Notre Dame de Paris, the White House and pretty much any intricate building of the 19th century that features Greco-Roman, Gothic, or other styles, could be Tartarian architecture according to theorists, who argue that the complexity and beauty of these structures could not have been achieved without advanced knowledge or technology. The modern, fringe narrative posits the existence of a vast and technologically advanced empire (run by a species of human giants no less), which supposedly flourished before the modern age with the advent of free energy, advanced building techniques and flying machines until it was destroyed and deliberately erased from historical records. Still with us? If you’ve ever entertained Atlantis, take a tumble down the rabbit hole to consider the mythical kingdom of Tartaria.
Origins of the empire and history of the Tartarian civilization aren’t exactly clear. The theories can be as vague as it is fantastical. What makes the landscape murkier is the fact that ‘Tartary’ was a real historical name for Central Asia that was included on maps of the world from the 13th century all the way up until the 19th. This led some to believe that an ancient people had literally been written off the map of history. In reality, there was simply a lack of knowledge from the early geographers concerning what cultures made up that part of the world. Tartary became a general label that encompassed a large area, including Mongolia, parts of Afghanistan, China and Asia, and a people who were known for their nomadic lifestyle and their skilled horsemanship.
While Tartarian theorists, who originally started popping up in Russia in the mid 1970s, seem to disagree on a lot of things, they all agree that the remnants of this lost civilzation have been hiding in plain sight amongst our cities and towns. It is believed that the key to a lost (or buried) past is the buildings that the Western world has reappropriated. Beaux-arts architecture? Tartarian. All those fabulous buildings that popped up during the turn-of-the-century world fairs? Stolen pre-existing structures from the Tartarian Empire! As the theory goes, they were buried during a supposed cataclysmic mud flood and later excavated, resurrected and claimed by western civilizations as achievements of modern architecture.
The 1915 World Fair held in San Francisco was reportedly the largest display of Tartarian architecture unveiled. Without knowing it, thousands of visitors to these events were getting a glimpse inside an advanced culture erased from history. According to Tartarian believers, the new world powers that be have been busy manipulating of archaeological findings and trying to pull the wool over our eyes with elaborate smokescreens to hide the true origins of these structures, rewrite history and scrub the Tartarian Empire from the public consciousness. Theorists even claim the bombing campaigns of World War II were a cover up to destroy the last remaining evidence of the Lost Kingdom.
And why go through all that trouble exactly? Theorists believe that many architectural marvels from the past attributed to the Tartarian Empire were not only aesthetically significant but also functionally crucial in harnessing and distributing free energy. The technology to harness such energy was far more advanced than what is publicly known today and was widely used by the Tartarian Empire, but is now claimed to have been lost, or more specifically, suppressed by those in power after the fall of Tartaria. Why? To maintain control over energy resources and the populace, erase evidence of alternative forms of governance, technology, and societal organization, ensuring their dominance remains unchallenged.
Large and ornate buildings with spires, domes and intricate metalwork, like the Eiffel Tower for example, are ripe for Tartarian conspiracies that claim they were designed by the lost civilization to collect atmospheric electricity or other forms of natural, renewable energy, part of a worldwide system for generating and distributing free energy, accessible to everyone. It is also believed that certain architectural designs, symbols, and placements were intentionally used to encode and preserve the knowledge of this free energy system, hoping it would be rediscovered in the future.
The intricate details and specific materials used in these constructions are thought to be key components in the energy-harnessing capabilities of the buildings. You can have a field day on Youtube and Tik Tok conspiracy accounts identifying coded knowledge in so-called Tartarian architecture.
Marco Polo has also been accused of being in on the ruse, as his detailed account of life in Asia in the 13th century makes no mention of the Great Wall of China. The Tartary contingent believes it was the Tartarian Empire that built the Great Wall to keep the Chinese out. Marco Polo made no mention of the wall because the majority of it had been built in the 16th century, but details and facts aren’t something devotees of Tartary let get in the way. Another popular fake historical storyline sees Napoleon and the Tsar of Russia Alexander the 1st fighting against the Tartarian Empire during Napoleon’s failed Russian campaign of 1812.
Ornate architecture aside, it seems to be a melting pot of wild and outlandish conspiracies, a Smorgasbord of paranoid content. On the Reddit group ‘Tartaria Uncovered’ which boasts forty-three thousand members, people share their latest architectural suspects of having Tartarian origins; everything from churches and libraries to historic post offices and municipal government buildings.
If you look for them, you’ll find lost civilizations or ancient apocalyptic storylines are all over the internet. The Tartarian Empire may have allegedly disappeared, but its business plan certainly seems to be generating revenue. A quick search online and you are confronted with a plethora of Tartarian merchandise; you can get anything from books, T- shirts, pillow covers, mugs, hats and even fridge magnets. Netflix recently jumped into the fray with their 2022 series ‘Ancient Apocalypse’ where writer Graham Hancock, described in the press as a pseudo-archaeologist, attempts to sift through the sands of time to prove an ancient catastrophe wiped out another un specified advanced civilization. Many archaeologists and historians debunked his research but it didn’t stop the show reaching number 1 in the Netflix charts.
Lost civilizations are certainly not a new concept. The Atlantean hypothesis has kept a multitude of rogue scholars in the limelight for years. Atlantis first mentioned by Plato around 360 BC, was described as a utopian civilization of god-like giants who had advanced technology, whose demise also came due to a great catastrophe, only to be wiped from the annals of history. Plato’s story was almost certainly an allegory warning of the corruption of human society and the dangers of hubris, though this hasn’t stopped the story from a variety of characters searching for the lost kingdom, making the myth a part of popular culture.
Is the increasing interest in a lost Tartarian Empire just a reflection of a hypernormal society we are living in; a landscape of misinformation, deep fakes and AI-generated content? While it might not have the same status as Atlantis yet, it’ll sure make for an interesting dinner table conversation. Thank us later.
