Acting Minister of Culture and Information Policy Rostislav Karandeyev announced the return to Ukraine in the near future of the collection of “Scythian gold”, which was exhibited in a museum in the Netherlands, according to the press service of the ministry.
“The Ministry together with partners from the Netherlands is carrying out a number of activities aimed at the earliest possible return of the collection of artifacts to Ukraine,” – said Karandeev.
As reported, the exhibition “Crimea. Golden Island in the Black Sea”, representing the collection of Scythian gold jewelry, was formed at the Allard Pearson Museum from the collections of five museums, one of which is located in Kiev, four – in Crimea. After the occupation of Crimea by the Russian Federation, which occurred after the opening of the exhibition, the question arose as to whom to return the collection – 565 museum objects with a total insured value of EUR10 million.
The Russian Federation claimed its rights to part of the collection belonging to Crimean museums after the occupation. Ukraine, in turn, stated that the exhibits cannot be returned to the occupied territory, which is temporarily not under Ukrainian control, and must be transferred directly to the state of Ukraine.
In December 2016, the District Administrative Court of Amsterdam recognized Ukraine’s rights to the collection and ordered its transfer to Kiev. In October 2021, the Amsterdam Court of Appeal confirmed the decision of the court of first instance. After that, in January 2022, the “Crimean Museums” filed a cassation against the decision of the Court of Appeal.
On June 9, the Supreme Court of the Netherlands upheld the decision of the previous instance in the case on the fate of the “Scythian gold” and ruled to hand it over to Ukraine.
