---
title: "Thieves steal Bronze Age gold hoard from Spanish museum "
url: https://moldova1.md/p/84123/thieves-steal-bronze-age-gold-hoard-from-spanish-museum
published: 2026-08-28T08:04:27Z
language: en
author: "Redacția  TRM"
section: "International"
source: moldova1.md
---

# Thieves steal Bronze Age gold hoard from Spanish museum 

> 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.

![](https://storage.moldova1.md/images/97121c3d-0753-4808-8248-ac35d1620ea6.jpg)

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**

![](https://storage.moldova1.md/images/23917014-1932-49f1-abe4-0e518b53e01e.jpg)