The Crimean Scythian gold, held in Amsterdam

On 14 July 2014 the Allard Pierson Museum in Amsterdam wrote to two sides, and told both the same thing. It would not return a set of ancient objects yet. Ukraine’s government and four museums in Crimea each asked for them, and the museum could not hand them to both. The objects stayed in Amsterdam, insured and safe, while the claims went to court. This was a loan dispute, not a theft. No source says that anyone stole the objects, and no one is accused of a crime.

The objects came from the exhibition “Crimea: Gold and Secrets of the Black Sea”. It was shown in Bonn from 3 July 2013 to 19 January 2014, then in Amsterdam from February to 31 August 2014. The loans came from four Crimean museums and from the National Museum of the History of Ukraine in Kyiv. Loan agreements were signed in March and April 2013 and are governed by Ukrainian law. The pieces date from the 5th century BC to the 7th century AD. They include a gold Scythian ceremonial helmet and a heavy gold neck ornament. Most of the objects are not gold at all.

The count is disputed. Ukraine’s culture ministry counts 565 exhibits. The Kyiv museum says these hold 2,111 individual items. Reuters says more than a thousand objects, AP says 300 and the Dutch broadcaster NOS said about 500. No source reconciles the totals.

The exhibition opened less than a month before Russia annexed Crimea. The Crimean parliament voted to separate on 6 March 2014, and Russia signed an accession treaty on 18 March. The UN, the EU and the Netherlands did not recognise it. On 13 May Ukraine’s culture minister signed Order No. 292, which named the Kyiv museum as keeper of the objects. Ukraine formally claimed them on 22 May. The Crimean museums demanded them back as well. Andrey Malgin, director of the Taurida Central Museum in Simferopol, argued in 2014 that museum property comes before state property. Russia’s culture ministry called the Amsterdam decision unjustified in law.

The Amsterdam District Court ruled on 14 December 2016 that the objects must go to Ukraine, as part of Ukraine’s heritage. It left ownership open. On 26 October 2021 the Amsterdam Court of Appeal reached the same result on other grounds. It treated Order No. 292 as a temporary protective measure until the situation in Crimea stabilises. Sergei Aksenov, the head of Crimea installed by Russia, called the ruling “outrageous, unfair and unlawful”. On 9 June 2023 the Supreme Court of the Netherlands rejected the appeal of the Crimean museums. Reuters reports that it said the decision ends the dispute.

The objects travelled by road and reached Kyiv on 26 November 2023. The Kyiv museum said the museum in Amsterdam waived a storage payment of 111,689 euros. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov was quoted by the BBC as saying the collection “belongs to Crimea”.

Ukraine says the objects will stay in Kyiv until Crimea is de-occupied. A display of them, “Treasures of Crimea. The Return”, opened at the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra on 5 July 2024. The museum listed it as running to 18 August 2026.