Ancient Gold Treasures Stolen From Spanish Museum in "Super-Fast" Raid
- 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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77 Articles
The Villena Treasure, one of the most valuable collections of jewels of the Bronze Age in Europe, was stolen this morning from MUVI, the museum of this locality of Alicante Province. Since around 1000 B.C., the treasure is composed mainly of gold pieces.
The prehistoric gold collection has been taken from the museum of the province of Alicante. It includes bracelets, bowls and vials, and dates back to about 1000 BC.
Thieves Steal One of Europe’s Most Significant Bronze Age Gold Collections, Frieze Abu Dhabi Announces Exhibitors, Growing Pains in Britain’s Expanding Cultural Scene, and More: Morning Links for August 27, 2026
Thieves steal one of Europe’s most significant Bronze Age gold collections and Britain’s expanding cultural scene faces growing pains.
It was early in the morning, in the city of Villena, near Alicante.They took part of the most valuable goldsmith's collection of that time, about 1,000 years before Christ.
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