66 Bronze Age gold pieces stolen from Villena Museum in four-minute raid

Thieves forced a side window of the Villena Museum in Alicante province, Spain, on 27 August 2026 and took 66 original gold pieces — the Treasure of Villena, a hoard, a deliberately buried collection of valuables, dating to roughly 1500 BCE — worth approximately US$1.98 million. El Mundo reports the raid lasted about four minutes. The museum held no replicas; the loss is total. Spanish police are investigating. No arrests have been reported.