Researchers found the pieces covered in newspaper and tucked beneath a staircase in the crypt. Aiste KarpyteIn the crypts of a Lithuanian cathedral, researchers have discovered a trove of royal treasure: crowns, jewelry and a scepter that belonged to several Lithuanian-Polish monarchs from the 15th and 16th centuries. The regalia had been hidden for 85 yearssince it was stowed for safekeeping beneath theVilnius Cathedral in southeastern Lithuania.Last fall, experts were invited to explore Vilnius Cathedrals subterranean level, where they used anendoscopic camera to look into cracks and holes in the crypts walls. In December, the researchers opened a secret hiding place in the churchs crypts, where the royal regalia was hidden at the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939, asVilnius Archbishop Gintaras Gruas told reporters earlier this week, per the Polish news networkTVP World.The discovered insignia are priceless historical treasures: symbols of Lithuanias long tradition of statehood, symbols of Vilnius as the capital city and magnificent works of goldsmithing and jewelry, says Gruas. The crowns were buried with kings and queens of Poland, who were also grand dukes and duchesses of Lithuania. Aiste KarpyteThe collection includes a crown ofAlexander Jagiellon, the king of Poland between 1501 and 1506. It also features crowns, chains, medallions, scepters, orbs and rings belonging to Elisabeth of Austria (also known as Elbieta Habsburanka) and Barbara Radziwithe first and second wives of Sigismund II Augustus, who served as king of Poland in the mid-1500s.The Jagiellon and Habsburg dynasties are two of European historys most powerful families, as Mykolas Sotincenka, a spokesperson for the Vilnius Archdiocese, tellsLive Sciences Kristina Killgrove. These rulers set in motion Polandsgolden age. This scepter was made for a monarch's grave. Aiste KarpyteEach of these kings acted also as grand dukes of Lithuania, as Poland and Lithuania wereunited between the 14th and 18th centuries.Found among the royal accessories were insignia made for these rulers burial chambers. As Gruas said, These crowns were not worn while the rulers were alive but were made after their deaths and were intended to be part of their tombs, per TVP World.In 1931, a flood damaged the cathedrals crypt, exposing the three rulers coffins. The funerary regalia was then gathered from the burials, as Sotincenka tells Live Science. The researchers found the accessories wrapped in newspaper dated 1939, tucked in a cavity beneath a staircase in the crypt. Historians knew from records that the cache of regalia existed, but attempts to find it hadnt been successfuluntil now. The cathedral is located inVilnius, the capital of Lithuania. Saulius ZiuraAccording to a statement from Vilnius official development agency, the artifacts connected to Radziwi add a romantic and legendary dimension to this discovery. Born in 1520, the famously beautiful and witty Radziwi was already a widow by the 1540s, when she became the kings mistress. Their subsequent marriage caused ascandal: Nobles thought Radziwi promiscuous and unfit. In time, she became one of the most celebrated figures in Lithuanian history, per the statement.The trove has been cataloged and will now undergo restoration before being publicly displayed later this year. As Rita Pauliukeviit, director of the Church Heritage Museum, says in a statement shared with CNNs Jack Guy, These symbols are important both for the state and for each of us, as signs of European identity, as a reclaimed identity of the old state, as a sign of the strength of our roots.Get the latest stories in your inbox every weekday.Filed Under: Archaeology, Artifacts, Cool Finds, Death, European History, History, Jewelry, Kings, Monarchs, Mysteries, Poland, Political Leaders, Queens