Dutch museum returns Crimean treasures to Kyiv ending ownership dispute

Historical Crimean treasures that were stored for years at an Amsterdam museum, subject to an ownership dispute due to Russia's annexation of Crimea which occurred after the original exhibition, have been safely transported to Ukraine, ending a nearly decade-long legal battle between Crimean museums and Kyiv.

As reported by the Ukrainian Gordon publication, a solid gold Scythian helmet from the 4th century B.C. and a golden neck ornament from the second century A.D. weighing more than a kilogram make up the 300-piece exhibition, which took place at the Allard Pierson Museum in Amsterdam in 2014, a month before the illegal Crimean annexation by Russia. It was no longer clear to the museum to whom the artifacts should be returned as both the four museums that originally lent the pieces laid claim to them, as well as the Ukrainian government in Kyiv.

Although the Amsterdam District Court already ruled back in 2016 that the artifacts should go to Kyiv and not Crimea, it was only following the Dutch Supreme Court's decision in June 2023, which backed this up, that the process for their transportation was started. 

Judges cited the lack of national recognition for the Russia-annexed Autonomous Republic of Crimea.

“Although the museum pieces originate from Crimea and can therefore also be regarded as Crimean heritage, they are part of the cultural heritage of Ukraine”, the Supreme Court ruled.

“This was a special case, in which cultural heritage became a victim of geopolitical developments”, Els van der Plas, director of the Allard Pierson Historical Museum, said in a statement.

Nevertheless, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov reaffirmed Russia’s view that the trove should be returned to Crimea.

“It belongs to Crimea and it should be there”, Peskov told reporters following the decision.