Jasha Lange, a spokesman for the University of Amsterdam, said that a collection of 565 museum items called “Scythian Gold” will remain in the Netherlands for the time being. They expect that the decision of the Amsterdam Court of Appeal, which returned this collection to Ukraine, may be appealed to the Supreme Court of the Netherlands.
This was reported by the Interfax agency.
Courts
The Amsterdam Court of Appeal on Tuesday, October 26, ruled that the Allard Pearson Archaeological Museum in Amsterdam should return the “Scythian gold” not to the authorities of the occupied Crimea, but to Ukraine. The Allard Pearson Museum is organizationally affiliated with the University of Amsterdam.
“The decision of the Court of Appeal may be appealed to the Supreme Court. Consequently, the exhibits will be safely stored in the Netherlands until final decisions are made,” Jasha Lange said.
Collection history
- Six months before the annexation of Crimea by Russia, four Crimean museums – the Kerch Historical and Cultural Reserve, the Central Museum of Tavrida, the Bakhchisarai Historical and Cultural Reserve and the Tavrichesk Chersonese – sent the exhibition “Crimea – the Golden Island in the Black Sea” to Bonn, and then to Amsterdam.
- The collection numbers, according to various sources, from 300 to 2000 items.
- In August 2014, a museum in the Netherlands decided not to transfer exhibits either to Ukraine or to the Russian-occupied Crimea until the decision of a competent judge or an agreement between the parties.
- In the summer of 2015, the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine prepared a lawsuit to the District Court of Amsterdam in the case of “Scythian gold”.
- The Amsterdam District Court ruled in December 2016 that the “Scythian gold” belongs to Ukraine and should be transferred to Kiev.
- The Russian authorities filed an appeal on behalf of the Crimean museums in January 2017.
- In March 2019, hearings began on this issue in the Amsterdam Court of Appeal, and the final decision was postponed several times.
- The self-proclaimed “head” of Crimea Sergei Aksyonov said in response to the current court decision that Kiev “will receive a donut hole” and not a collection.
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