[EN] Villena Museum assaulted in four minutes: thieves take its historic treasure

The Museum of Villena (MUVI), in Alicante, remains cordoned off this Thursday after suffering a strong assault whose target was the Treasure of Villena, one of the most important archaeological sites of the Bronze Age in Europe. The Judicial Civil Guard has been working since early in the morning inside the enclosure to determine which pieces have been stolen and reconstruct a heist that, according to the first information, would have been executed in just four minutes.

The assailants would have acted in a coordinated manner and with several vehicles. To access the museum they broke one of the windows located in the square outside the building, in a visible area, and not by a secondary point. The first investigations point to a quick and planned action, although the number of those involved and the exact extent of the robbery have not yet been officially confirmed.

The Civil Guard is now collecting images from the cameras of the museum itself and other nearby points to reconstruct the escape. Meanwhile, the area remains sealed and investigators are reviewing display cases, footprints and the inventory to find out which objects have disappeared.

The Treasure of Villena is made up of 59 objects of gold, silver, iron and amber that add up to almost ten kilos of weight. The possibility that the pieces could be transformed is already worrying in the area. «What is most unfortunate is that they will make it melt down because it is gold,» laments Joanllu Escoda, a resident of Biar who frequents Villena.

The assault once again puts the focus on the security of museums and large heritage collections, especially after the robbery suffered by the Louvre in Paris in October 2025, when several assailants took jewels from the French Crown in a matter of minutes. Now, the priority in Villena is to locate the stolen pieces as soon as possible and clarify how such a quick coup could have been executed.