The Supreme Court of the Netherlands ruled on Friday that a collection of archaeological treasures lent by Crimea to a museum in Amsterdam, shortly before Moscow’s annexation of this peninsula, should be returned to Ukraine. This is the latest Dutch legal decision on these priceless “Scythian gold” coins, after a legal tussle that lasted nearly a decade.
Ukraine and four museums on the occupied peninsula had demanded the return of the pieces loaned for the exhibition Crimea: Gold and Secrets of the Black Sea. But the University of Amsterdam’s Allard-Pierson Archaeological Museum had said it would not do so until a judge decided which party the pieces should be returned to.
“The Allard Pierson Museum must hand over the art treasures to the Ukrainian state and not to Crimean museums,” the Dutch Supreme Court has ruled. This decision also upheld judgments of lower Dutch courts that the treasures should be returned to Kyiv – not museums – for their protection, “pending stabilization in Crimea”. “With this decision, the Supreme Court has ended the litigation,” the Hague-based court said in a statement. The Supreme Court justices stressed that Ukraine had “a legitimate interest in protecting its cultural heritage”.
The judges added that the “pending stabilization in Crimea” provision maintains “a fair balance between violating the right of Crimean museums to recover treasures and Kiev’s right to protect its cultural heritage.” Earlier court rulings, handed down before Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine last year, had been hailed by Kyiv. Moscow reacted furiously, deeming them politically motivated.
Allard Pierson told Dutch news agency ANP that he did not yet know when the treasures would be returned to Ukraine. “This will be decided in cooperation with Ukraine,” said an official.
