Editing Visigoths (section)

== Goldsmithery ==
[[File:Tezaurul de la Pietroasele Closca MNIR Tezaur.JPG|thumb|upright|right|The [[Pietroasele Treasure]] discovered in Romania, attributed to the Visigoths{{sfn|Odobescu|1889|p=1-100}}]]
In Spain, an important collection of Visigothic metalwork was found in [[Guadamur]], in the [[Province of Toledo]], known as the [[Treasure of Guarrazar]]. This [[Archaeology|archeological]] find is composed of twenty-six [[votive crown]]s and gold [[cross]]es from the royal workshop in Toledo, with signs of Byzantine influence. According to Spanish archaeologists, this treasure represents the high point of Visigothic goldsmithery.{{sfn|Guerra|Galligaro|Perea|2007|pp=53–74}} The two most important votive crowns are those of [[Recceswinth]] and of [[Suintila]], displayed in the National Archaeological Museum of Madrid; both are made of gold, encrusted with sapphires, pearls and other precious stones.{{sfn|Museo Arqueologico Nacional, "Tesoro de Guarrazar"}}
The discoverer of the second lot gave Spanish Queen Elizabeth II some of the pieces that she still had in her possession, including the crown of Suintila, this crown was stolen in 1921 and never recovered.{{sfn|Balmaseda Muncharaz|1996|p=109}} There are several other small crowns and many votive crosses in the treasure.{{sfn|Museo Arqueologico Nacional, "Tesoro de Guarrazar"}}

These findings, along with others from some neighbouring sites and with the archaeological excavation of the Spanish Ministry of Public Works and the Royal Spanish Academy of History (April 1859), formed a group consisting of:

* [[National Archaeological Museum of Spain]]: six crowns, five crosses, a pendant and remnants of foil and channels (almost all of gold).
* [[Royal Palace of Madrid]]: a crown and a gold cross and a stone engraved with the Annunciation. A crown and other fragments of a tiller with a crystal ball were stolen from the Royal Palace of Madrid in 1921 and its whereabouts are still unknown.
* [[Musée de Cluny|National Museum of the Middle Ages]], [[Paris]]: three crowns, two crosses, links and gold pendants.{{sfn|Bardiès-Fronty|2015|pp=22–24}}

The aquiliform (eagle-shaped) [[Fibula (brooch)|fibulae]] that have been discovered in [[necropolis]]es such as [[Duratón, Segovia|Duratón]], [[Madrona (Segovia)|Madrona]] or Castiltierra (cities of [[Segovia]]), are an unmistakable example of the Visigothic presence in Spain. These fibulae were used individually or in pairs, as clasps or pins in gold, bronze and glass to join clothes, showing the work of the goldsmiths of Visigothic Hispania.{{sfn|Bacoup|2015}}
[[File:Belt Buckle MET h1 1988.305a,b.jpg|thumb|Visigothic belt buckle. Copper alloy with garnets, glass and inclusion of lapis lazuli. The ''Metropolitan Museum'' of Art (New York)]]
The Visigothic belt buckles, a symbol of rank and status characteristic of Visigothic women's clothing, are also notable as works of goldsmithery. Some pieces contain exceptional [[Byzantine art|Byzantine-style]] [[lapis lazuli]] inlays and are generally rectangular in shape, with copper alloy, garnets and glass.{{sfn|The Metropolitan Museum of Art, "Belt Buckle 550–600"}}{{efn|Important findings have also been made in the Visigothic [[necropolis]] of Castiltierra ([[Segovia]]) in Spain.{{sfn|Ripoll|2011|pp=161–179}} }}