In December 2016, the Amsterdam District Court ruled that the Scythian gold treasures whose insured value is about $2 million should be returned to Ukraine
The Amsterdam Court of Appeal may begin considering an appeal from the Crimean museums against the ruling on the Scythian Gold case in October, the director of the Central Museum of Tavrida in Crimea told TASS on Wednesday.
In December 2016, the Amsterdam District Court ruled that the Scythian gold treasures whose insured value is about $2 million should be returned to Ukraine. At the same time, the court chose not to decide on the ownership. The Crimean museums challenged the decision.
The museum director, Andrei Malgin, also said he was not planning to head for the Netherlands, but did not rule out that his colleagues from other Crimean museums whose exhibits were also in Amsterdam, would go.
Developments around the Scythian gold collection
The Scythian gold collection was put on view at the Allard Pierson Museum in Amsterdam in February 2014 when Crimea was still part of Ukraine. However, after the peninsula reunited with Russia in March 2014, an uncertainty over the collection arose as both Russia and Ukraine claimed the exhibits.
The Scythian gold collection has been kept by the Amsterdam University archaeological museum (the Allard Pierson Museum) for more than two years now. The Amsterdam University suspended the procedure of handing over the gold collection until the dispute was solved.
The Crimean museums claim their full right to the collection on the grounds that all the exhibits were found on Crimea’s territory and were stored in the peninsula’s museums.
The Central Museum of Tavrida, the Kerch Historical and Cultural Preserve, the Bakhchysarai Historical and Cultural Preserve and the Chersonesus Historical and Cultural Preserve are among those museums whose items are currently kept in Amsterdam. Items provided for the exhibition by a Kiev museum, were returned to Ukraine in September 2016.