Golden Treasure from Szent Vid in Velem

An outstandingly important golden treasure of the Late Bronze Age was discovered in the final days of August 1929 at Szent Vid in Velem, located on the eastern spur of the Alps. The jewellery pieces made with rare and unusual metalworking techniques had been hidden under a stone near present-day Szentkút Spring. The diadem and the pectoral ornaments were probably part of the costume ornaments of a lady from a high-ranking family who lived during the Urnfield period in the Late Bronze Age. As a result of exciting archaeological detective work, the author was able to establish the exact location of the findspot and the find circumstances, mainly through the meticulous examination of the previously unpublished correspondence between Baron Kálmán Miske who had excavated the site and his colleagues, Ferenc Tompa and Amália Mozsolics. The book also describes in detail the results of the conservation and restoration work performed between 2004 and 2006, when the finds were rigorously examined, in part using non-invasive techniques.