In Raiders of the Lost Ark, Indiana Jones recovers the Ark of the Covenant in 1936.
The film opens with Jones exploring a Peruvian temple before moving to his university work and a mission connected to the Ark. The story is set just before World War II, when Nazi Germany is seeking powerful historical objects for ideological and military purposes.
The year appears in the film’s opening title card and establishes the adventure’s place in the Indiana Jones timeline. Raiders of the Lost Ark was released in 1981, but its story occurs decades earlier, a distinction that can cause confusion when comparing the film’s production date with its fictional setting.
The Ark is traditionally associated with the ancient Israelites and is described in the Hebrew Bible as a sacred chest containing the stone tablets of the covenant. In the movie, its supposed supernatural power makes it the central object sought by both Jones and the Nazis.