Bronze age treasure stolen in four-minute Spanish Museum heist

Thieves have stolen one of Europe’s most important prehistoric gold collections in a brazen four-minute raid on the Villena Museum in Alicante, Spain.

The treasure of Villena, a stunning collection of 59 Bronze Age artefacts dating back to around 1000 BC, was taken in the early hours of Thursday morning. The hoard includes 29 bracelets, 11 bowls, three bottles, and other gold, silver, iron, and amber pieces weighing nearly 10 kilograms. Villena’s mayor, Fulgencio Cerdán, said: “This destroys us.”

“It’s part of our heritage, of our wealth,” his voice breaking.

This is an example of a well-thought-out plan of action that included a distraction method. The alarm in the sports centre of the city was set off at 5:16 AM, which drew the attention of the police away from the museum. Four minutes later, an alarm was set off at the museum.

A town council spokesperson said: “This was a super-fast and super-professional operation.”

They broke into the place through a back window after being unable to break the door.

These are three golden crowns of the Virgin and Child.

Three silver containers, one bracelet, and some decorations for the head of a ritual stick were left behind, besides one crown which "fell off" the thieves as they left. The treasure was found in 1963 by an archaeologist named José María Soler in a vessel buried in a dry riverbed. Its historical significance is invaluable, but just its gold is estimated at approximately €1.7 million ($1.9 million).

This theft is one of the most spectacular cases of museum robberies in Europe. In October last year, jewelry of €88 million ($102 million) was stolen from the Louvre Museum in Paris. Recently, there were also cases of theft of Renaissance artworks in Sicily and paintings of Renoir, Cezanne, and Matisse in Italy.

The Spanish police are currently investigating the robbery without any arrests yet.