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After a long legal battle between Ukraine and Crimea, the Netherlands returned to Kiev the precious Scythian finds exhibited at the Allard Pierson Museum in Amsterdam in 2014
The list of works of art which, due to war events, have been lost, stolen, destroyed, at the center of troubles or legal disputes is countless. In this case, the protagonist of a long adventure was a collection of archaeological treasures from five Crimean museums, lent for an exhibition at the Allard Pierson Museum in Amsterdam. It’s a shame that during the exhibition the geopolitical situation drastically and dramatically changed, forcing the Dutch authorities to ask themselves who they should return it to. To the museum institutions from which they came, which came under Russian control in 2014, after the annexation of the region – through a referendum considered illegitimate by the community – or to Ukraine, home of the finds at the time of the loan? Both sides claimed the treasure.
A complex legal situation
A complex legal situation, which could not be resolved by the museum where the artefacts featured in the “Crimea – Gold and Secrets of the Black Sea” exhibition were located.
Over 500 works of art from the ancient Crimea, the Tauric Chersonese of the Greeks, who had founded colonies there since the 7th century BC, strongly influencing the Scythians, a nomadic population of the Eurasian steppes, who settled on the peninsula and to whom the majority of finds. Rare pieces in gold, such as an extraordinary parade helmet, bronze and silver, weapons, jewels, funerary objects, objects, such as a lacquer box made in China, coming from various locations (including Kherson, where the explosion of the Nova Kakhova last June, swept away the archaeological site).
Els van der Plas, director of the Allard Pierson Museum
“This was a special case, in which a cultural heritage becomes a victim of geopolitical events. When it became clear in 2014 that the decision would be made by a judge, we focused on appropriately preserving the artifacts until they were returned to legitimate administration,” said Els van der Plas, director of the Allard Pierson Museum.
National Museum of the History of Ukraine, Kiev
In 2016 the Amsterdam court ruled in favor of Kiev. The Crimean museums then turned to the Court of Appeal. An appeal rejected in 2021 was followed by an appeal to the Dutch Supreme Court, which on 9 June 2023 finally recognized the collection as part of the cultural heritage of Ukraine. An exquisitely legal decision, given the nationality of the authority at the time of the loan and on the basis of the fact that the European Union did not recognize the annexation. A verdict welcomed very favorably by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky (not so by his counterpart) for whom the return of the Scythian treasure to Kiev takes on a deeper value. Last November, nine years after being exhibited in Amsterdam, the objects – checked and packaged according to usual museum protocols – then left home and are now at the National Museum of the History of Ukraine, in Kiev.