Villena's museum houses one of the most sensational finds of gold from the Bronze Age (about three thousand years ago): the TREASURE OF VILLENA was discovered on the 1st of December, 1963 by Señor José María Soler García. The discovery of the treasure was an accident, bracelets appeared in sand from a street named "Rambla del Panadero" (loosely translates as "Baker's Boulevard"), in the course of a renovations being carried out in that part of the city.  The treasure was found inside an open-mouthed oval-shaped vessel that was, in turn, inside a hollow just over two inches beneath the road surface.

The pieces that make up the Treasure of Villena weigh ten kilos (about 22lb) and are made of 23.5 carat gold.  There is also a bracelet and an iron flagon with three silver flasks.  Together, they form a collection unlike any other known find of the same antiquity.  There was an additional find of gold and these are the pieces that make up the so-called "Little Treasure of Cabezo Redondo", which consists of 35 pieces of almost 150g (5.35 oz) in weight.

Upon request, the museum will show you a video presentation of newsreel footage taken from the time the Treasure of Villena was found. Creaky black & white photography was all there was in the early sixties …the commentary is all in Spanish. You may be handed an précis translated into appalling English that will probably leave you no better informed. A cabinet will be opened and you will be allowed to look at the Treasure of Villena …but you can't take photos (I asked). I have no doubt that scholarly theories exist concerning this find of Bronze Age artefacts …but tourists come away with just the bald facts of the find.

If you're the sort of person who can get quite exited about arrowheads and pottery shards, then Villena's museum is the place for you (you'll probably need a couple of stiff drinks, afterward, in order to calm down).

So, there you are! Villena has a forty-year-old story of a find of some three-thousand-year-old Bronze Age treasure, a twelfth-century Moorish castle (closed when I went there), plenty of scope for getting lost, old town 'magic' and a sense of separateness from all the bad things that come from the presence of too many foreigners !

Someday all web sites will be like this  -  informative, witty and not plastered with a load of advertisements!