<P> During the Anschluss, when Austria was annexed to Germany, the Reichskleinodien were returned to Nuremberg and afterwards hidden . They were found by invading U.S. troops and returned to Austria by American General George S. Patton after World War II . </P> <P> Robert Feather, an English metallurgist and technical engineering writer, tested the lance for a documentary in January 2003 . He was given unprecedented permission not only to examine the lance in a laboratory environment, but was allowed to remove the delicate bands of gold and silver that hold it together . In the opinion of Feather and other academic experts, the likeliest date of the spearhead is the 7th century A.D.--only slightly earlier than the Museum's own estimate . Feather stated in the same documentary that an iron pin--long claimed to be a nail from the crucifixion, hammered into the blade and set off by tiny brass crosses--is "consistent" in length and shape with a 1st - century A.D. Roman nail . </P> <P> A Holy Lance is conserved in Vagharshapat (previously known as Echmiadzin), the religious capital of Armenia . It was previously held in the monastery of Geghard . The first source that mentions it is a text Holy Relics of Our Lord Jesus Christ, in a thirteenth - century Armenian manuscript . According to this text, the spear which pierced Jesus was to have been brought to Armenia by the Apostle Thaddeus . The manuscript does not specify precisely where it was kept, but the Holy Lance gives a description that exactly matches the lance, the monastery gate, since the thirteenth century precisely, the name of Geghardavank (Monastery of the Holy Lance). </P> <P> In 1655, the French traveler Jean - Baptiste Tavernier was the first Westerner to see this relic in Armenia . In 1805, the Russians captured the monastery and the relic was moved to Tchitchanov Geghard, Tbilisi, Georgia . It was later returned to Armenia at Echmiadzin, where it is always visible in the museum Manoogian, enshrined in a 17th - century reliquary . </P>

Where is the spear of destiny located today