Bronze Age Gold Stolen from Spain's Villena Museum in Four-Minute Heist
Investigators say the thieves targeted the museum’s Bronze Age hoard for its gold, valued at more than €1.5 million.
- On Thursday, thieves raided a museum in Alicante housing one of Europe's greatest bronze age gold collections, escaping in an operation officials described as "super-fast and super-professional."
- Archaeologist Jose Mar discovered the collection in 1963 in a dried riverbed in Villena, with pieces dating back about 1,000 BC; the 50-plus objects include 29 bracelets, 11 bowls, and three bottles.
- The alarm sounded around 5:20 am, and thieves had fled by 5:24 am; a spokesman insisted "all security systems were activated" with "no failure" despite investigating a possible diversion at the sports centre.
- Across Europe, a series of brazen thefts includes four works "of extraordinary value" stolen from a Sicily museum; last October, thieves took $102 million in jewelry from the Louvre in Paris in under eight minutes.
- Police are conducting an inventory to determine exactly how many of the 50-plus items were taken, with authorities assessing the full extent of loss from the collection as the investigation continues.
142 Articles
142 Articles
It's one of the most precious Bronze Age collections in Europe: the Villena Treasure was almost entirely stolen this Thursday from the Spanish museum where it was on display. The town's mayor says he is devastated. Report by Nicolas Chamontin.
Jewelry and other items from one of the most important prehistoric gold collections have been stolen. According to the city council, the robbery began with a distraction.
Armbands, bowls and bottles of gold were stolen from the Museum of Villena. A Viennese museum also reports the theft of a diamond collier.
Four minutes were enough to remove from the Villena Museum a valuable collection of bracelets, bowls, bottles and other pieces of 3,000 years old, mostly made of gold. The so-called Treasure of Villena, a collection of goldsmiths considered to be one of the most valuable of the Bronze Age in Europe, was stolen almost entirely this Thursday from the site in the medieval town of Alicante province, Spain, the Mayor said. "About 5h20 a.m. the alarm …
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