This happened on February 9, 2013. The discovery of some ropes hanging from the bell tower of the church of San Pedro de Quintana del Marco, A municipality in the Páramo de León region, which was once an important Roman enclave, alerted the Civil Guard. Some thieves had climbed nearly 20 meters high with climbing ropes, harnesses and a ladder to steal a robed Roman bust embedded in the temple’s belfry. The testimony of a resident of the town, who had seen a car wandering in the neighborhood two days previously, as well as proof of the label of a harness bag found in the neighborhood, helped the Judicial Police find the store in the area that “the unscrupulous” had taken possession of the sports equipment to commit the crime, located in the province of Seville.
Finally, the exchange of information with the Civil Guard of the Andalusian capital and the Historical Heritage Group of the Central Operational Unit made it possible to identify and arrest the criminal group, based in the city of Seville and dedicated to theft of works of art, including many, some of which are intended outside our country. It would be a question of knowing where This head of Roman origin dates between the 3rd and 4th centuries. not to find the thieves, but the same year, in August, the piece was recovered and then deposited at the Museum of León, where until now it has undergone a complex restoration process that has allowed it to regain its splendor, as the show these Days can be seen at the AR-PA Cultural Tourism Fair, organized by the Valladolid Exhibition Center in collaboration with Intur.
The result of this intervention was presented this Saturday by the Minister of Culture and Tourism, Gonzalo Santonjawho described this presentation as “an important act because we express a problem and a solution”. The highest regional official in matters of culture and heritage, who highlighted the collaboration between administrations that took place in this operation, warned of “the inevitably difficult situation” in which heritage located in rural areas finds itself , with generally older residents if it does not suffer from depopulation, which is why it launched an appeal to society “because the vigilant attitude belongs to all of us“.
However, he stressed that citizen awareness is “growing”, aware of the “immense heritage” that is “distributed in every corner of Castilla y León”. The advisor highlighted the “wonderful” work of the Civil Guard troops in the recovery of looted works, and encouraged the repetition of an exhibition carried out in 2000 with the heritage recovered by the Benemérita.
The councilor also congratulated Arancha Álvarez, restorer of the Museum of León, for her wonderful work, since the bust was subjected to “bad treatment”.
The restored head comes from the Roman Villa de los Villares, one of the most important in the northwest of the peninsula. Following various lootings, it found itself embedded in the bell tower of the church in the aforementioned city of León.
