Scythian gold from Crimea returned to Ukraine after dispute with Russia

The Scythian gold was returned after ten years of legal proceedings in the Netherlands. The Allard Pierson Museum transferred the exhibits to the National Museum of the History of Ukraine, where they will be kept until the de-occupation of Crimea.

Experts are now examining the condition of these items, including ancient sculptures, Scythian and Sarmatian jewelry, and Chinese lacquer boxes, some of which are two thousand years old, totaling 565 objects.

Fedir Androshchuk, the Director-General of the National Museum of the History of Ukraine, said, "During the legal disputes, our museum was recognized as the storage point for the collections of Crimean museums. It means that our museum will make maximum efforts to preserve them and to allow citizens and guests of Ukraine to see them."

Scythian gold dispute

At the beginning of 2014, the collection from the Kyiv museum and four museums in Crimea was sent to an exhibition in Amsterdam. The exhibition was supposed to run from February to August at the Allard Pierson Archaeological Museum.

After Russia annexed Crimea, which happened after the opening of the exhibition, there was an issue where to return the collection – 565 items with a total insurance value of 10 million dollars.

Russia claimed its rights to a part of the collection belonging to Crimean museums after the annexation. Ukraine, in turn, argued that the exhibits could not be returned to the occupied territory, temporarily not under Ukrainian control, and should be directly sent to Ukraine.

In December 2016, the District Administrative Court of Amsterdam recognized Ukraine's rights to the collection and ruled to transfer it to Kyiv. The Supreme Court of the Netherlands confirmed the decision to transfer the Scythian gold to Ukraine.