Manching (dpa) – The Bavarian State Criminal Police Office (LKA) wants to announce the details of the theft of Celtic gold treasure worth millions from a Manchinger museum today. On Tuesday night, the unknown thieves broke into the Roman Celtic Museum of the city near Ingolstadt. The gold treasure consisting of 483 coins has been completely stolen.
Bavarian art minister Markus Blume (CSU) spoke of enormous cultural damage. “The loss of the Celtic treasure is a catastrophe, the gold coins are irreplaceable witnesses of our history,” he said.
The pot of gold was the showpiece of the museum. According to the LKA, the collector’s value of the historic coins is estimated at several million euros. It is the largest Celtic gold find that has appeared in the last century. An excavation team discovered the coins 23 years ago. There were 483 gold coins in the showcase. They have been dated to around 100 BC
Robbery not directly detected
According to initial investigations, the theft took place in the early hours of Tuesday morning. The perpetrators disappeared without being discovered. The crime was only discovered when the employees came to the museum in the morning. First, the Kripo of the Ingolstadt Police Headquarters was lit. Due to the large value of the stolen goods, the LKA quickly dealt with the case.
Since 2006, the treasure has been on display in the then open museum in the Pfaffenhofen/Ilm district. The so-called Oppidum Manching is considered an important Celtic settlement where archaeologists continue to document finds to this day.
But the importance of Manching is known even to criminals. In early May, the robbers dug about 140 holes at the site of a scientific excavation. It is not yet known whether the Celtic artifacts were stolen in the process.
