More than 500 "Scythian gold" treasures returned to Ukraine: details

The Scythian Gold collection of artifacts, which had been stored in the Netherlands for nine years due to the occupation of Crimea, has returned to Ukraine. The collection consists of 565 items, including ancient sculptures, Scythian and Sarmatian jewelry, and Chinese lacquer boxes dating back two thousand years. They were brought to the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra.

The "Scythian gold" will be kept by the National Museum of History of Ukraine until the de-occupation of Ukrainian Crimea, according to a statement on the institution's website. Kyiv customs showed how 2,694 kg of treasures are being brought to the territory of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra.

There, in the treasury of the National Museum, customs officers will identify the artifacts.

"During the legal disputes, our museum was designated as a place of storage for the collections of Crimean museums. This means that the museum will make every effort to preserve them and to ensure that citizens and guests of Ukraine can see them," Fedir Androshchuk, Director General of the National Museum of History, said.

He added that the fate of Scythian Gold will now be "under the scrutiny of the world."

"This, in turn, places responsibility on all those who stood behind the political decision to return the collection to war-torn Ukraine. They must provide it with unprecedented protection, as well as appropriate economic support for the National Museum of History of Ukraine," Androshchuk said.

What is known about "Scythian gold"

"Scythian gold" is the unofficial name of a collection of 565 museum exhibits that was brought from four museums in Crimea to Amsterdam in February 2014 for an exhibition. The exhibition was held at the Pearson Museum.

In June 2023, after nine years of litigation, the Supreme Court of the Netherlands completely dismissed the cassation appeal of the museums of the occupied Crimea and upheld the appeal decision, which satisfied Ukraine's claim.

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