Spain: Thieves steal Bronze Age gold treasure in lightning raid on Villena Museum
Thieves made off with nearly the entire Bronze Age gold Treasure of Villena during a rapid early-morning raid on a museum in eastern Spain. The theft is the latest in a string of high-profile museum heists across Europe in recent months.
A gang of thieves struck the Villena Museum in Spain's Alicante province before dawn on Thursday, escaping with almost the whole of the famed Treasure of Villena in a matter of minutes. A town council spokesperson said the alarm sounded around 5:20 a.m., and the intruders were gone within roughly four minutes, in what officials described as an extremely fast and professional operation.
Villena's mayor, Fulgencio Cerdan, told reporters that the thieves took most of the collection and said the loss was devastating for the town, calling the treasure part of its heritage and wealth. A regional government representative said the group arrived in several vehicles and got into the building through a window. Only a handful of pieces were left behind — three silver vessels, a bracelet, an earring, and one of the collection's four crowns, apparently dropped during the getaway. Officials said all security systems had been active and that no failure occurred at the museum.
What is the Treasure of Villena
The Treasure of Villena, discovered in 1963 by archaeologist Jose Maria Soler in a sunken vessel in a dry riverbed, comprises more than 50 objects, mostly gold, dated to between 1300 and 1000 BCE, including bowls, bottles and bracelets. The collection has previously traveled to Madrid, Alicante, Tokyo and Kyoto, and replicas were made so the originals could remain in an armored display at the Villena museum. Two of the pieces are made from iron traced to a meteorite, making the find one of the earliest known examples of iron metalworking in Western Europe. The mayor estimated the gold's value alone at around €1.7 million, though the collection's historical significance is considered far greater.
The raid adds to a run of major European museum thefts over the past year, following the high-profile heist at the Louvre last October and recent thefts from Italian museums, including works by Renaissance painter Antonello da Messina stolen in Sicily.
