In Manching, Upper Bavaria, burglars stole a gold treasure worth several million euros from the Celtic period. As a spokesman for the Bavarian Criminal Investigation Service (LKA) reported on Tuesday, the perpetrators had entered the Celtic-Roman Museum in Manching near Ingolstadt the previous night and completely stolen the treasure discovered in 1999 near Manching. Various media had previously reported.
The pot of gold was the showpiece of the museum. According to the LKA, the collector’s value of the historical coins is estimated at several million euros. It is the largest Celtic gold find to have appeared in the last century. An excavation team discovered the coins 23 years ago. The display case contained 483 gold coins, which weighed about four kilos in total, the LKA announced in the evening. They would be dated to around 100 BC.
“The loss of the Celtic treasure is a catastrophe, the gold coins are irreplaceable as testimonials to our history,” said Bavarian Art Minister Markus Blume (CSU). The cultural damage is enormous. “Whoever committed this act, someone has violated our history and put incredible criminal energy into it.” Blume said everything must be done to clear up the background and catch the criminals.
“The burglary must have taken place in the early hours of the morning,” said the LKA spokesperson. “It was classic, as you can imagine in a bad movie.” The museum staff discovered on Tuesday morning that the pot of gold had disappeared.
Always criminals
First, the Kripo of the police headquarters in Ingolstadt was turned on. Due to the great value of the stolen goods, the LKA took over the business during the day. On Wednesday, the detectives from Munich want to disclose more information about the burglary.
The treasure has been exhibited in the museum in the Pfaffenhofen/Ilm district since 2006. The so-called Oppidum Manching is considered an important Celtic settlement, in which archaeologists regularly work to this day. The Bavarian State Heritage Agency ranks the settlement among the most important archaeological monuments north of the Alps.
The excellent archaeological site in the north of Upper Bavaria always attracts criminals. In early May, raiders illegally dug some 140 holes at the site of a scientific dig near Manching. At that time, a specialized company had examined a piece of land on behalf of the Free State because a national road was to be built there.
Memories of the robbery in Dresden
The experts assume that the perpetrators spent a weekend looking for finds from the Celtic era on the archaeologists’ grounds with soil probes. It is still unclear whether and which pieces were stolen. The prosecutor’s office is still investigating the robbery.
Time and again criminals steal valuable pieces from museums. The burglary of the Green Vault in Dresden in November 2019 made headlines in recent years. Then 21 jewels with diamonds and brilliants with a total value of more than 113 million euros were stolen, so far there is no trace of the loot. Several men are therefore currently on trial in Dresden.