A 2,500-year-old gold collar belonging to the Vix Treasure archaeological find was stolen Friday in broad daylight from a French museum, according to reports in Le Parisien and France 3.
The thieves allegedly entered the Musée du Pays Châtillonnais – Trésor de Vix in Châtillon-sur-Seine, Burgundy, around 10:30 a.m. on July 24 by paying the admission fee, acting as regular visitors to the museum. Dijon prosecutor Olivier Caracotch said in a statement to Le Parisien that the thieves smashed the display case holding the gold collar, called a torque, before fleeing the museum through the main entrance.
Caracotch added that his office has opened an investigation for organized crime and that the Juridiction interrégionale spécialisée (JIRS) in Nancy will assist “given this classification, the nature of the facts, and the great complexity of the procedure.”
Jérémie Brigand, the mayor of Châtillon-sur-Seine and president of Communauté de Communes du Pays Châtillonnais, said in a statement, according to Le Parisien, that the museum had faced “two previous failed nighttime burglary attempts” in the past eight months. The museum said that it had upped its security as a result, spending some €150,000 ($171,000) on new security cameras, motion detectors, and door detectors, per the France 3 report.
“Despite these measures, the perpetrators demonstrated an organization, a speed of execution and a determination that allowed them to carry out their action,” he said in his Le Parisien statement, characterizing the theft as an “attack on cultural heritage and the public interest.”
He told France 3 that the stolen torque is “priceless, it’s a unique piece in the world. And beyond the value of the gold, it’s a historical piece of Châtillonnais heritage. And it’s really damaging and regrettable that criminals are attacking the history of the Châtillonnais and our country.”
The torque theft recalls the brazen theft at the Louvre in Paris, in which thieves made off with $102 million worth of jewels in less than eight minutes, also in broad daylight. That high-profile theft ultimately caused the museum’s president to resign and expedited the Louvre’s plans to address its dated security systems, which the museum is expected to begin in January 2027. The Louvre’s Apollo Gallery, where the stolen crown jewels had been on display, reopened this week without the jewels, which are still missing.
The Louvre heist led to several other museums across France facing similar thefts. Earlier this month, thieves targeted another French museum, stealing some $4.57 million worth of jewels from the Lalique Museum in Wingen-sur-Moder, Alsace.
The Vix Treasure was discovered in 1953 at the foot of Mont Lassois, near the village of Vix, or about 4 miles north of Châtillon-sur-Seine, where the museum is located, according to its website. The heart of the findings was the tomb of a woman, called the “Dame of Vix” (Princess of Vix), who is believed to have been buried between 470 and 460 BCE.
The tomb was filled with precious objects, including the golden torque, which is made of 24-karat gold, weighs just over a pound, and dates to the 6th century BCE; the Vix Krater, which includes a depiction of Medusa and was produced around 530 BCE in the Greek colony of Sybaris in southern Italy and it is unknown how it came to Vix; and the Silver Phiale, likely a ceremonial item that is the “oldest silver vase discovered north of the Alps.”
The golden torque is of a Celtic design in the shape of an arc “with its two ends resting on a lion paw that is positioned on hollow spheres,” per the museum, which notes that it was a symbol of power. Atop each lion paw is a depiction of the winged horse Pegasus, representing the Greek influence on the region during the era. That influence is juxtaposed with Celtic imagery of “two pear-shaped balls [that] symbolize the sun.”
Initially, the torque was discovered on the princess’s skull and believed to be a diadem, but further research confirmed that it was “worn around the neck, like a necklace, by a member of the aristocracy. Its placement in the tomb likely resulted from the tomb’s collapse shortly after the burial,” per the museum.
The museum adds, “Through its iconographic elements and method of manufacture, the torque reflects a blend of cultures and a transfer of technology, illustrating the vibrant trade in Europe at the end of the First Iron Age.”
