The 66 square metre mosaic was only discovered in 1972 and depicts the Roman god Bacchus and was one of the best preserved Roman mosaics of the Iberian Peninsula. The local Mayor, Lorenzo Izcara, told El País that the thieves caused havoc and tremendous damage when they ‘barbarously’ chipped out the stolen sections, ‘probably with a chisel’.
The remains of the Roman villa where the mosaic lies is some 300 metres outside the village with no security on site in winter. Visitors who wish to enter must use a telephone at the site to call for someone to let them in, and it was two tourists from Cataluña who arrived for a visit there on Wednesday morning who noticed the break-in.
Click here to read the full article from Typically Spanish
Click here to read a Spanish article about the theft
