Un instante atrapado en bronce: patrimonio recuperado

The Museo Arqueológico Nacional presents an exhibition centred on two Roman bronze sculptural groups recovered after being looted.

The Museo Arqueológico Nacional is showing until 25 October 2026 an exhibition featuring two exceptional Roman sculptural groups cast in bronze, dating from between the 1st century BC and the 2nd century AD, which come from the south of the Iberian Peninsula. Both had been illegally taken out of the country and, thanks to the work of several national and international police teams, have been recovered.

The sculptures depict two small girls who play, crawling, as they chase partridges. Both are in a remarkable state of preservation and stand out for their outstanding technical quality. To this must be added the rarity of a sculptural group in bronze -a metal historically much coveted- preserved to the present day in its entirety, including its original plinths.

The group is exceptional for its subject matter, as it belongs to the trend developed especially in the Hellenistic period and continued in Rome, for scenes of everyday life. These are exclusive pieces, probably commissioned by a member of the Hispano-Roman elite to decorate some villa, whose spaces would have been adorned with sculptures in marble and bronze of the very highest quality.

The pieces are thought to have been looted from a site in the south of the peninsula between 2007 and 2008 and subsequently taken out of the country. Their presence and public display today at the MAN is due to the research and recovery work carried out by the Historical Heritage Brigade of the Policía Nacional, in collaboration with the Ministry of Culture, within the framework of a lengthy police operation against the illicit trafficking of cultural property, in which other bodies have also collaborated, such as the Homeland Security Investigations of the United States, the Customs Department of the Ministry of Finance and the Interior Attaché's Office at the Spanish Embassy in Switzerland.