Cultural Treasures and Their Place of Origin: Crimean Treasures Return to Kyiv

On 26 October 2021, The Court of Appeal of Amsterdam confirmed that the Crimean antiquities loaned by Crimean Museums will be returned to Kyiv rather than Crimea. This dispute concerned a collection of archaeological gold objects that were sent on loan by four Crimean museums to the Allard Pierson Museum for an exhibition in February 2014. After Russia’s annexation of Crimea in March 2014, the treasures were reclaimed by the Ukraine central government and the four Crimean museums. The exhibition closed in late August 2014, but the collection was not sent back to the Crimean museums. The Allard Pierson Museum decided to keep the collection items until the ownership dispute was decided in court. While Ukraine celebrated the decision, the culture ministry in Moscow declared that the decision “grossly violates the principles of international exchanges between museums and the right of the people of Crimea to have access to their own cultural heritage”. Is this case law affirming the doctrinal principle of cultural nationalism? This commentary highlights that international and domestic law on the restitution and return of cultural heritage provides very few reliable indicators on whether objects must be returned to the national government of their countries of origin, or to indigenous and cultural minorities.