Russia to appeal as Dutch court orders return of Scythian gold to Ukraine
December 16, 2016
While
government officials have lashed out at the decision, there is no
unanimous opinion among Russian cultural figures on whether or not a
collection of 500 ancient treasures loaned to the Netherlands should be
sent back to the Crimean museum where they were kept before 2014.
The
exhibition 'Crimea: Gold and Secrets of the Black Sea' at the Allard
Pierson Museum in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, August 2014. Source: EPA
A
court in Amsterdam has ruled that 500 Scythian gold artifacts loaned
from a collection in Crimea to a Dutch museum prior to Russia’s takeover
of the peninsula in 2014 should be returned to Ukraine, not to the
museum in Crimea.
The
Dec. 14 decision by the court, which ruled that Crimea is not a
sovereign state and so has no claim to the gold as cultural heritage, is
a blow to Russia, which had argued that the gold should be returned to
the institution from which it was originally loaned
The
legal battle over the treasures, which were found on Crimean territory,
began in March 2014 when Moscow seized control of the Black Sea
peninsula from Ukraine.
A
month before, in February 2014, the exhibits had been taken to the
Allard Pierson Museum in Amsterdam for the "Crimea – a Golden Island in
the Black Sea" exhibition, which was organized with the participation of
four Crimean museums and one Kiev museum. The exhibition showed
exhibits dating from the sixth century BC to the seventh century AD:
weapons, sculptures and decorations.
Subsequently,
both the Crimean museums, which are now under Russian jurisdiction, and
the Ukrainian Culture Ministry demanded the return of the Scythian
gold, whose insurance value is over 1 million euros (around $1 million).
Russian politicians unsatisfied
The
Amsterdam court explained that both countries claimed the gold but the
Netherlands first has to return the collection to Ukraine, where the
local court will examine Russia's claims. Russia was unsatisfied with
this decision.
"The
agreements [to hold the exhibition] were concluded with Crimean
museums, not with Ukraine," said Georgy Muradov, deputy chairman of the
Crimean government. "This was not done on a governmental level but on
the level of museum organization." Muradov believes that the Netherlands
should return the artifacts directly to the Crimean museums, regardless
of the nation to which they now belong.
Speaker
of the Russian Federation Council Valentina Matvienko claimed that the
ruling had established a dangerous precedent that could lead to "world
museums stopping inter-museum exchanges," the RIA Novosti news agency
reported.
Museum specialists divided over ruling
Mikhail Piotrovsky, director of St. Petersburg’s State Hermitage Museum, also regrets the
Amsterdam Court's decision, offering the simple argument that "objects
from Crimean museums must remain in Crimean museums." Piotrovsky
explained that the Scythian artifacts were found on Crimean territory
and are part of the culture and history of the people who live in
Crimea.
On the other hand, Yelena Gagarina, director of the Moscow Kremlin Museum, agrees with
the court, arguing that “the objects were taken out of Ukrainian
territory and belonged to Ukraine as a state." She pointed out that
museum collections are the property of the state, not of individual
museums or repositiories, making the decision by the Netherlands to
return the artifacts to Ukraine a logical one.
The litigation continues
The
ancient Scythian gold will remain in Amsterdam for another three months
until the expiration of the deadline to file an appeal. Attorney
Anastasia Sivitskaya, who represents the Crimean museums at the
Amsterdam Court, has already saidthat she will file an appeal.
The
Russian Culture Ministry stated categorically: "The Amsterdam's Court
decision to return the gold to Ukraine violates international law and
the principles of inter-museum exchange. The museum objects must be
returned to Crimea, where they were found and kept for decades," said a
ministry press release.
No comments:
Post a Comment