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.
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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 …
The Treasure of Villena, considered one of the most valuable goldsmiths of the Bronze Age in Europe, was stolen in the early hours of August 27.
In Spain, one of the most important gold treasures of the European Bronze Age has been stolen.
Spain: Thieves steal Bronze Age gold at Villena Museum
One of the world's greatest Bronze Age gold collections has been swiped, almost in its entirety, from Villena Museum. A highly professional group of thieves were in and out in four minutes flat before the museum opened.
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