All museum pieces that the Allard Pierson loaned for the exhibition Crimea – Gold and Secrets of the Black Sea are back in Ukraine. The Dutch museum has that announced on Monday. The objects have been transferred to the National Museum of the History of Ukraine in Kyiv, after having been in the Netherlands for almost ten years.
In 2014, the Allard Pierson opened an exhibition about Crimea, with archaeological finds and gold objects. Four museums on the Ukrainian peninsula donated hundreds of art objects for this purpose. While the exhibition was running, Russia annexed Crimea and Allard Pierson had to decide to whom to return the pieces: the state of Ukraine or the institutions in Crimea.
The Allard Pierson decided to let the judge make a ruling, and both the court in Amsterdam (2016) and the court of appeal (2021), as the high Council (June this year) ruled that the museum pieces should be returned to the state of Ukraine and not to the museums in Crimea, which is still in the hands of Russia in 2023.
“This has been a special case, in which cultural heritage became a victim of geopolitical developments,” says Els van der Plas, director of Allard Pierson, in a press statement. “After it became clear in 2014 that the judge would consider the case, we focused on safely storing the objects until the time came to return them to the rightful owner. We are pleased that clarity has emerged and the documents have now been returned.”