After almost 10 years of trials, artefacts from four Crimean museums, which were presented at the exhibition “Crimea – Gold and Secrets of the Black Sea” in Amsterdam, returned to Ukraine. The Allard Pierson Museum transferred them to the National Museum of the History of Ukraine. There they will be kept until the deoccupation of Crimea.

From February to August 2014, the exhibition “Crimea – Gold and Secrets of the Black Sea” was held at the Allard Pierson Museum. Items from the collections of the National Museum of the History of Ukraine and four Crimean museums: the National Reserve “Khersones Tavriyskyi” (Sevastopol), the Taurida Central Museum (Simferopol), the Bakhchisarai Historical and Cultural Reserve and the Kerch Historical and Archaeological Reserve were on the display at the museum. In February 2014, russia illegally annexed Crimea. After the exhibition had ended, the exhibits from the collection of the National Museum of the History of Ukraine returned to Kyiv. At the same time, it became impossible to return artefacts from the Crimean museums to the territory not under the control of the Ukrainian authorities. However, the Crimean museums, which are de facto controlled by the russian government, insisted on this. A trial has begun in the Netherlands.

In December 2016, a court in Amsterdam ruled that the Crimean treasures should be transferred to the state of Ukraine in accordance with the Heritage Act. The Amsterdam Court of Appeal also decided to satisfy the lawsuit for the transfer of Crimean artefacts to the state of Ukraine, but already on the basis of the Law of Ukraine “On Museums” and the order of the Ministry of Culture of Ukraine from March 2014. This order gives the Minister of Culture the authority to make a decision on the transfer of museum exhibits to responsible storage if there is a risk of their destruction, loss or damage. The Crimean museums filed a cassation appeal to the Supreme Court of the Netherlands with a request to cancel the decision of the Court of Appeal. On June 9, 2023, the Supreme Court of the Netherlands rejected the cassation appeal of the Crimean museums, and left the appeal decision unchanged. Therefore, the artefacts were handed over to the state of Ukraine, and not to the museums of Crimea, which are currently under occupation. According to the decree of the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine (MCIP), the collections of the Crimean museums should be transferred to the National Museum of the History of Ukraine for storage.

According to the final decision issued by the Supreme Court of the Netherlands, Ukraine had to pay the Allard Pierson Museum 111,689 euros with interest for the entire period of preservation of the collections of the Crimean museums.

On July 5, 2023, the joint meeting was held in the Allard Pierson in the presence of its director, representatives of the Embassy of Ukraine in the Kingdom of the Netherlands and two legal advisers of Ukraine. The director general of the National Museum of the History of Ukraine Fedir Androshchuk proposed a plan for the transfer and transportation of the Crimean museum collections to Ukraine. 

After fulfilling the commitments made by National Museum of the History of Ukraine and MCIP, the Allard Pierson refused the payment determined by the court in its favor. In November, objects from the Crimean museums were independently checked and then carefully packed in accordance with the museum rules. Then the artefacts were transported to Kyiv. Currently, specialists are examining their condition. There are about 565 items, in particular, ancient sculptures, Scythian and Sarmatian jewelry, Chinese lacquer caskets, which are two thousand years old.

The director general of the National Museum of the History of Ukraine Fedir Androshchuk said: “During the legal disputes, our museum was designated as a place of storage of the Crimean museums’ collections. This means that the museum will do its best to preserve them. Also, we will make every effort so that citizens and guests of Ukraine can see these treasures. At the same time, since the collection has acquired an international political resonance, its condition and future fate will from now on be under the close attention of the world. This, in turn, places responsibility on all those who were behind the political decision to return the collection to warring Ukraine. They should provide it with unprecedented protection, as well as appropriate economic support for the National Museum of the History of Ukraine.”

The team of the National Museum of the History of Ukraine thanks all those who fought for the return of the Crimean treasures home these years: the lawyers, the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine. We also thank the Allard Pierson Museum for carefully storing the items and facilitating their quick return home.