Ancient Crimean artefacts on loan when the contested region was annexed in 2014 must be returned to Ukraine, a court has ruled.
The Dutch appeals court ruled that Ukraine has legal control over the contest collection, which was on loan to the Allard Pierson Museum in Amsterdam when the Black Sea peninsula was controversially annexed by Russia.
The artefacts made up the exhibition, The Crimea: Gold and Secrets of the Black Sea, which opened in February 2014 shortly before the annexation took place. Included in the collection of 2,000 items are 300 gold items, including a 4th-century-BC solid gold helmet weighing more than a kilogram.
The court ruled that the artefacts belong to the State Museum Fund of Ukraine after both Moscow and Kiev claimed ownership of the treasures. This decision was made based on the Law on Museums and Museum Affairs, which was passed in 1995 to safeguard heritage following Ukraine’s declaration of independence from the Soviet Union in 1991.
“The public interests at stake are of great weight and this case is closely connected to the Ukrainian State,” said a court statement. “Though the regulations encroach on private legal relationships, they do so for the sake of cultural interests that outweigh the interests of the Crimean museums.”
The news has been met positively in Ukraine, with President Volodymyr Zelensky tweeting “After the Scythian gold, we'll return Crimea”.
Russian officials have said that the decision is “politically motivated” and that they would be supporting Crimean museums in an appeal, which both parties have the right to under the rules of the Netherlands Supreme Court.
Pending the appeal, the treasures themselves will remain in "safe storage" in the Allard Pierson museum, which is the archaeological museum of the University of Amsterdam. The collection has been billed as one of the most important exhibitions on international loan in Ukraine’s history.
A 4th-century-BC solid gold helmet weighing more than a kilogram is part of the collection CREDIT: AP
