The Amsterdam Court of Appeal on Oct. 26 ruled to return hundreds of artifacts, collectively known as “Scythian gold,” to Ukraine.
The collection of 584 items worth nearly 1 million euros was assembled from four Crimean museums and one museum in Kyiv. It was initially shipped from Ukraine to Germany for the exhibition “Crimea: Gold and Secrets of the Black Sea” in 2013. In February 2014, it was moved for display at the Allard Pierson Museum in Amsterdam.
Soon after, Russia invaded and occupied the Crimean Peninsula.
Upon the end of the exhibition, 19 artifacts were returned to the Kyiv museum. However, the Dutch authorities faced a dilemma about the rest of the collection — whether to return the artifacts to the Ukrainian government or the now Russian-controlled Crimean museums.
By Ukrainian law, the items belong to Ukraine’s State Museum Fund.
In December 2016, the Amsterdam District Court ruled that the collection should be returned to Kyiv. The museums in Russian-occupied Crimea appealed this decision. Now, the Amsterdam Court of Appeals has finally ruled in Ukraine’s favor.
“A long-awaited victory of Ukraine in Amsterdam court!” President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a statement on Twitter. “The ‘Scythian gold’ will return to Ukraine… We always return what’s ours. First, we’ll return the ‘Scythian gold’ and then Crimea.”
However, according to the Netherlands’ judicial system website, it is possible to contest the Court of Appeal’s decision by appealing in cassation to the Supreme Court of the Netherlands.
The Scythians were nomadic people who lived in tribes and inhabited Central Asia and parts of Eastern Europe, including much of modern Ukraine, from about the seventh century B.C. to the third century. They are known as fearsome warriors and creators of elaborate jewelry and decorative art.
