The golden helmet from Coțofenești is, without question, one of the greatest discoveries in Romania’s treasury.
Unfortunately, on Saturday, January 25, this, along with other objects that are part of the Dacian treasury, were stolen. They were in a museum in the Netherlands as part of an exhibition that started in July 2024 and was due to end this Sunday.
The Drents Museum in Assen, where the exhibition took place, was broken by an explosion, which took place at 3:45 in the morning, but which was not followed by a fire, writes the Dutch publication Rtv Drenthe.
The Dacian helmet, dating from the 4th century of our era, weighs almost 800 grams of solid gold and can reach the amount of 50,000 dollars, that is 237,000 lei. If the age is also taken into account, the value of the helmet can exceed several million euros.
The helmet is part of the Geto-Dacian culture of the La Tène era. According to experts, it most likely belonged to a Geto-Dacian king, head of an autochthonous political formation established in the area, around the end of the 5th century, the beginning of the 4th century BC
Ornamental forms include a crown decorated with radiate buttons and a dotted spiral border. On the front, there are two eyes with pupils marked by double circles and dramatic, upturned eyebrows giving the helmet an apotropaic appearance, meant to protect the wearer from evil spirits.
“The modeling of the eyes is exceptionally exaggerated, it is accentuated by the two unnatural twists of the eyebrows. This further emphasized the conventional, apotropaic character of the helmet”writes the historian D. Berciu.
The story of the discovery is not very clear, there are several variants. It is certain that the artifact was discovered in 1928.
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