Bronze Age gold treasure stolen in pre-dawn Spanish museum heist
Thieves broke into the Archaeological Museum of Villena in eastern Spain before dawn on Thursday, stealing most of a 3,000-year-old Bronze Age gold treasure valued at €1.7 million.
The suspects bypassed security after an alarm triggered at a nearby municipal sports complex at 05:16 local time, diverting police before the museum alarm sounded four minutes later. The assailants forced open a side window, grabbed the gold artifacts, and fled before law enforcement units reached the scene.
The stolen haul forms the bulk of the famous Treasure of Villena, a prehistoric cache of approximately 50 gold, silver, iron, and amber items unearthed in 1963. Three silver vessels, a bracelet, sceptre pieces, and a fourth crown from the Virgin of the Virtudes—dropped by the thieves during their escape—remained inside the museum.
"The heist happened very quickly, in just a few minutes, taking away a core part of our heritage," Villena Mayor Fulgencio Cerdán said. Spain's Civil Guard is reviewing surveillance footage of several suspects and vehicles, while investigating whether the sports complex alarm was an intentional diversion.
Translation by Iurie Tataru
