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The largest known Celtic gold find of the 20th century was discovered near Manching in 1999 (photo from 2006)
Photo: Frank Mächler / dpa
Unknown burglars stole a gold treasure worth several million euros in Manching, Upper Bavaria.
The perpetrators got into the Celtic Roman Museum in Manching near Ingolstadt last night, said a spokesman for the Bavarian State Criminal Police Office (LKA).
The gold “was completely stolen”.
The burglary was later noticed by employees of the museum.
According to the LKA, the collector's value of the gold treasure is estimated at several million euros.
According to the Celtic Roman Museum, the hoard of 450 coins is the largest Celtic gold find of the 20th century.
It was uncovered in the summer of 1999 during excavations in the Manching area.
On the night of Tuesday, unknown perpetrators intentionally severed several fiber optic cables in a technical room at Deutsche Telekom in Upper Bavaria.
As a result of the destruction, the telephone and Internet connections for around 13,000 private and corporate customers around Manching were interrupted, said the police headquarters in Upper Bavaria North in Ingolstadt.
There were also failures in the affected area in Telekom's mobile network.
Herbert Nerb, the 1st mayor of the Manching market, told the Süddeutsche Zeitung that he assumed there was a connection with the burglary in the museum.
“The museum is actually a high-security wing.
But all ties to the police have been severed,” he says.
"Professionals were at work there."
The treasure has been exhibited in the museum in the district of Pfaffenhofen/Ilm since 2006.
The so-called Oppidum Manching is considered to be an outstanding Celtic settlement, in which archaeologists continue to work to this day.
The Bavarian State Office for the Preservation of Monuments counts the settlement among the most important archaeological monuments north of the Alps.
bbr/AFP/dpa