The Netherlands court rules to return "Scythian gold" to Ukraine
The Supreme Court of the Netherlands upheld the decision of the Court of Appeal in 2021 to return the "Scythian gold" to Ukraine. The decision means the museum exhibits should be transferred to the National Historical Museum of Ukraine in Kyiv. The court case lasted nine years.
"The decision of the Supreme Court has brought an end to this dispute. The Allard Pierson Museum must hand over the art treasures to the State of Ukraine and not to the Crimean Museums," the ruling says.
Before the Russian occupation of Crimea, in February 2014, the "Scythian gold" collection from Crimean museums was taken to Amsterdam for the "Crimea: Gold and Secrets of the Black Sea" exhibition. The Allard Pierson Museum in Amsterdam got the pieces in temporary use.
On October 26, the District Court of Appeal in Amsterdam ruled that the Allard Pierson Museum should return the Scythian treasures to Ukraine. The court examined the evidence and found that the public interest is higher than private property. Although the Allard Pierson Museum (APM) has agreed with the Crimean museums, fulfilling the contractual terms would violate Ukraine's Law on Museums and Museum Affairs.
The law's Article 21 states that all artefacts from the museum's collection must remain under the control of Ukraine. The court found that if the APM transferred the Scythian gold to the Crimean museums, it would mean the loss of these exhibits to Ukraine.
The court of original jurisdiction passed a prior decision in this trial in 2016. It also decided to return the collection to Ukraine, but the Crimean Museums appealed to the Court of Appeal.
"Scythian Gold" is an exhibition of nearly 2,000 gold pieces discovered in the Northern Black Sea region and consists of collections from five museums, one located in Kyiv and four in Crimea. The 500 exhibits include Scythian gold artefacts, a ceremonial helmet, precious stones, and ancient Greeks and Scythian swords. The exhibition is worth about €13 million.
