The Villena Museum in Alicante, Spain, has been robbed of its valuable Bronze Age gold collection, with thieves making off with around 60 bronze age objects.

According to reports, the theft took place during the early hours of Friday morning and is being assessed The museum's collection, which dates back to around 1,000 BC, is mainly gold items, including 29 bracelets, 11 bowls, three bottles, and other miscellaneous pieces. For related coverage, explore our detailed analysis on Technology and Digital Systems.

Background Context

The Villena Museum in Alicante, Spain, has a unique collection of almost ten kilos of gold dating back to the Bronze Age. The museum confirmed that rings, bowls, and bracelets were among the items stolen during the heist.

The operation at Villena Museum was described as "super fast and super professional" The thieves began

The theft took place in the early hours of Friday morning, with the alarms going off around 05:20. Police arrived shortly afterwards and found that the thieves had left the building after just four minutes.

Timeline

The Mayor of Villena, Fulgencio Cerdán, described the theft as "devastating" and said that the town was "destroyed". The collection is not only valuable but also culturally significant, with many pieces dating back over 1,000 years.

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The investigation into the theft is ongoing, with police assessing the extent of the damage. It is unclear at this stage whether any of the stolen items will be recovered.

Earlier this month, Italian police officers shared they had recovered paintings 4m (£7.6m) which were stolen from the Magnani-Rocca Foundation museum near Parma.

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Gold rings dating back to the Bronze Age were stolen from the Villena Museum Thieves have stolen jewellery and artifacts from one of the most important prehistoric gold collections at a museum in the Spanish province of Alicante.

The Treasure of Villena is a unique trove of almost ten kilos of gold, bowls, bottles and bracelets dating back to the Bronze Age.

Law enforcement personnel are still assessing exactly how many items were stolen in the raid, which took place in the early hours of Friday earlier today. The museum confirmed to the BBC that rings, bowls and bracelets were among the items seized.