Burglars blew open the doors of the Drents Museum in the northern Dutch city of Assen and stole several archaeological artifacts on loan from Romania, police said on Saturday.
Police said the golden Coțofenești helmet, dating from around 450 B.C., and other items from the exhibition "Dacia – Empire of Gold and Silver" belonging to the National History Museum of Romania were among the items stolen during the nighttime heist.
The international policing organization Interpol is helping to conduct a manhunt to find the perpetrators.
No information has been provided about the value of the artifacts.
More than 50 gold and silver items were on display at the Drents Museum as part of an archaeological exhibition about the ancient kingdom of Dacia, which was located in present-day Romania.
The exhibition was due to end this weekend, but the museum was closed after the robbery.
Museum director Harry Tupan spoke of a "dark day" for the two museums in the Netherlands and Romania. "We are intensely shocked by the events last night at the museum," he said.
Speaking with his Dutch counterpart Caspar Veldkamp on Saturday morning, Romanian Foreign Minister Emil Hurezeanu referred to the cultural, historical, and symbolic significance of the looted artifacts and said their disappearance had caused an outpouring of emotion in Romania, according to Romanian media.
The explosion that blew open the doors damaged the museum, but no one was injured. Shortly after the incident, the police found a burnt-out car in a town close to Assen, which they suspect was used in the crime.
