Thieves raided the Villena Museum in eastern Spain early Thursday morning, making off with almost its entire collection of Bronze Age gold artifacts, known as the Treasure of Villena, which is worth around €1.7 million or $2 million. The thieves were described by officials as "super-fast and super-professional" and arrived in several vehicles to enter the museum through a window within four minutes of triggering the alarm. The collection includes over 50 gold objects, including bowls, bottles, and bracelets, some of which are dated to between 1300-1000 BCE and are considered historically invaluable. This is the latest in a series of high-profile heists on European museums in recent months, following a similar incident at the Louvre Museum last October.
Written by the local model on 2026-08-28,
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Story summary
On Thursday, thieves raided the Villena Museum in eastern Spain, making off with almost the entire Treasure of Villena collection, which is one of the world's greatest Bronze Age gold collections. The heist, described as "super-fast and super-professional" by an official, lasted just a few minutes and was carried out by a group that entered the museum through a window in several vehicles. The alarm at the museum went off around 5:20 a.m., and within four minutes the thieves had left the building with most of the treasure. The collection includes gold from a meteorite and is considered an important part of the town's heritage and wealth. According to the mayor of Villena, Fulgencio Cerdan, "they've taken most of the treasure" and the incident has left the town devastated.
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Thieves on Thursday raided one of the world's greatest Bronze Age gold collections in the latest of a series of high-profile heists on European museums in recent months.
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Thieves → raid → months
The early morning raid on Villena Museum in eastern Spain lasted just a few minutes.
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raid → last → Spain
A group of thieves described by one official as "super-fast and super-professional" made off with almost the entire Treasure of Villena collection, leaving behind only a few items.
What happened in the heist?
"The alarm at the Villena Museum went off around 5:20 a.m.," said a spokesman for the town council, adding that within four minutes, they had all left the building again in an extremely rapid and professional operation.
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they → describe → operation
The collection of Bronze Age gold, some of which we now know hailed from a meteorite, was a centerpiece at the small museum in the Alicante province.
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we → know → province
"They've taken most of the treasure," the mayor of Villena, Fulgencio Cerdan told journalists.
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mayor → take → journalists
"We are absolutely devastated, I'm even trembling.
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I → devastate → ?
The truth is that for those of us from Villena, this destroys us.
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this → destroy → us
The thieves arrived in several vehicles and apparently entered the museum "through a window," according to the Spanish government's deputy representative in Alicante, Manuel Pineda.
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thieves → arrive → Alicante
Mayor Cerdan said that only three silver vessels, a bracelet, an earring and one of four crowns in the collection — which the thieves appeared to have "dropped" while making their exit — remained behind.
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thieves → say → exit
"All security systems were activated," according to the Villena spokesman, who insisted there had been "no failure" by the museum.
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who → activate → museum
The Treasure of Villena is a collection of more than 50 mainly gold objects, discovered in 1963 by archaeologist Jose Maria Soler in a sunken vessel in a dried out riverbed.
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Treasure → discover → riverbed
They are dated to between 1300 and 1000 BCE.
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The gold pieces include 11 bowls, three bottles and 28 bracelets.
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pieces → include → bowls
The collection has been exhibited beyond Villena in cities including Madrid, Alicante, Tokyo and Kyoto, and two sets of replicas were later made to showcase the collection without taking it away from the armored display at the Villena Archaeological Museum.
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sets → exhibit → Museum
The relics' historical value is incalculable, although thieves might struggle to sell them even on the black market after having famously lifted them from a well-known display.
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thieves → struggle → display
The mayor said the gold alone would be worth around €1.7 million or $2 million.
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gold → say → ?
to the museum's website, specialist researchers consider it the most important collection of gold tableware from the Bronze Age.
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it → consider → Age
It also represents the earliest known example of iron use in Western Europe, two pieces crafted from a metal that recent studies showed hailed from a meteor.
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studies → represent → meteor
Most famously, the Louvre Museum was hit in broad daylight last October, escaping in less than 10 minutes with jewelry worth millions.
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This led to the director's eventual resignation and a protracted political scandal, as well as forcing part of the museum to close for an extended period.
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Italy's Culture Ministry announced on Sunday that four works of "extraordinary value" by Renaissance artist Antonello da Messina were stolen from a museum in Sicily.
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Shortly before that, Italian police said they had recovered three paintings by Renoir, Cezanne and Matisse stolen from a museum near Parma.
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they → say → Parma
Again this involved a highly-organized group of thieves who were in and out in a matter of minutes.
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who → involve → minutes
Edited by: Rana Taha
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you → edit → news
