So far, the court battles for the Scythian gold – the collections of the Crimean museums, which were in the Netherlands at the exhibition, have not been put to rest, but after the annexation of the Crimea, Russia is trying to “annex” these exhibits as well.
Let’s wait for September
This story began in February 2014, when the Allard Pearson Museum in Amsterdam opened the exhibition “Crimea. Golden Island in the Black Sea.” It was dedicated to the Scythians, Sarmatians and Goths. It was created using the exhibits of five Ukrainian museums: the Museum of Historical Treasures of Ukraine (a branch of the National Museum of the History of Ukraine, Kyiv), the Central Museum of Taurida (Simferopol), the Tauric Chersonese National Reserve (Sevastopol), the Bakhchisaray Historical and Cultural Reserve and the Kerch Historical and Archaeological reserve
The exhibition consisted of only 584 exhibits, the insurance value of which was estimated at almost 13 million euros. Since Russia annexed Crimea in March 2014, exhibits from the Kyiv museum returned to Ukraine after the closing of the exhibition, while valuables from the Crimean museums remained in the Netherlands.
At that time, the annexation of Crimea by Russia had been going on for several months. The Netherlands did not recognize it, so there was uncertainty in the Pearson Museum – where to return the Crimean exhibits, so they were placed in storage until this issue was clarified, the answer to which was to be given by the court on the initiative of the Ukrainian side.
The legal process was lengthy. The first decision was made only in December 2016: the District Administrative Court of Amsterdam recognized that the exhibits of the Crimean museums from the collection “Crimea. Golden Island in the Black Sea” should be returned to Ukraine. In the spring of 2017, Russia appealed this decision, and from March 2020, the Court of Appeal began to consider the appeal of the museums of the Russian-annexed Crimea against the decision to return the Scythian gold to Ukraine. But this court was also not on the side of the invaders, arguing its position by the fact that the values from the Crimean museums belong to the state of Ukraine. This decision was made in October 2021. And on January 26, 2022, Crimean museums in the temporarily occupied Crimea filed a cassation appeal against this decision of the Court of Appeal. The Supreme Court of the Netherlands will finally put an end to this case on September 15, 2023. If a decision is made in favor of Ukraine, then the Scythian gold should be returned to Kyiv.
What do lawyers hope for?
Lawyers Gert-Jan van den Berg and Marten Sanders, who defend Ukraine’s interests in the Netherlands in the Scythian gold case, are almost sure that Ukraine will win these legal battles.
“We have received the opinion of the General Counsel of the Supreme Court of the Netherlands, who provides independent legal opinions to the Supreme Court on disputes. Usually the Supreme Court listens to his advice. In 95% of cases, the Supreme Court decides in accordance with such a review. This is a very positive signal, and we We hope that the final decision of the Supreme Court will be in favor of Ukraine,” Sanders said in a comment to Ukrinform.
According to him, if in September 2023 the court makes its final decision in favor of Ukraine, there is no other court in the Netherlands that can appeal the decision of the Supreme Court. This is the highest judicial instance, and if the case is won, then the end will be finally put. And the treasures will be returned to Ukraine.
When it comes to Scythian gold from the Crimean museums, for which legal red tape has been going on for years, then some exhibits can only be called gold conditionally.
“These are mainly collections from excavations of the beginning of the 21st century. They contained not only gold and objects made of precious metals that belonged to the peoples who lived on the territory of the Crimean Peninsula, in particular the Scythians. These are also wooden caskets that are considered unique finds. Such a collection cannot be called complete , since these are finds of different monuments from different burial places and different museums, but it was included in our latest historiography under the name “Scythian gold”, although there are not only gold and silver objects.The value of these finds is extraordinary, because all these are finds from excavations. And archaeologists record everything in great detail. That is, not only the object itself is important for us, but also its context. This is key. Therefore, this collection is extremely valuable for interpreting the ancient history of Ukraine,” Deputy Minister of Culture and Information Policy Kateryna Chuyeva said on Ukrainian radio.
Now the collection is stored in Amsterdam in the vault of the Allard Pearson Museum. The conditions there are good, because the museums of Europe are careful and serious about the storage of works of art, regardless of whose collections they are. A guarantee of storage is a prerequisite for the transfer of items to the exhibition. Therefore, there is no need to worry about the physical condition of the exhibits. And if restoration intervention is necessary, this, according to the conditions, can only happen with the participation of Ukrainian specialists.
The biggest robbery since World War II
It is worth recalling that the Russian invaders stole the Scythian gold stored in the Melitopol Museum of Local Lore in the spring of 2022.
“In April 2022, the military and representatives of the occupation administration of the aggressor state stole historical and cultural values from the Melitopol Museum of Local Lore. According to preliminary data, among the stolen property was a collection of Scythian gold, which was discovered by archaeologists in the 50s of the last century,” reported then the press service of the Prosecutor General’s Office.
This theft was qualified as a violation of the laws and customs of war – Part 1 of Art. 438 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.
On the whole, the invaders stole thousands of works of art and historical exhibits in Ukraine, among which there are even antiquities.
According to The New York Times, according to the prosecutor’s office and museums of Ukraine, in Kherson alone, the Russians stole more than 15,000 art objects and objects of historical significance. The invaders robbed or completely destroyed more than 30 museums, in particular in Mariupol, Melitopol and Kherson. These figures certainly do not reflect reality, since they report cultural values, the seizure of which has already been documented, but in fact the scale of theft is much larger.
In total, the invaders illegally seized tens of thousands of exhibits from museums in the territories of Ukraine temporarily occupied by them, ranging from antique Scythian gold to modern avant-garde works. The New York Times suggests, based on the opinions of experts interviewed, that this is the greatest art theft since World War II.
Galina Girak
