SIMFEROPOL, November 20. /TASS/. Director of the Central Museum of Tavrida Andrey Malgin believes that the Amsterdam Court of Appeals may look into the petition filed by the Crimean museums on the Scythian gold case in the winter and spring of 2018.
"The Crimean museums have submitted an appeal, and now it is being reviewed by the disputing parties. We presume that the appeal may be entertained in the winter and spring of 2018," he told reporters on Monday.
The Scythian gold (exhibit) is a collection of showpieces containing more than 2,000 objects with an estimated insurance value of about $2 mln that were displayed at the exhibition dubbed "Crimea: Gold and secrets of the Black Sea" that was held in February - August 2014 at the Allard Pierson Museum in Amsterdam. Uncertainty regarding the collection emerged following Crimea’s reintegration with Russia in March 2014. Both the Crimean museums and Ukraine staked out a claim for the exhibits that had been taken from the peninsula. In light of this, the University of Amsterdam has suspended the handover procedure until the dispute is legally settled or until the parties reach a peaceful agreement.
The museums that furnished these exhibits, which are being held in Amsterdam, are the Central Museum of Tavrida, the Kerch Historical and Cultural Preserve, the Bakhchysarai Historical and Cultural Preserve and the National Preserve of Tauric Chersonesos.
The Kiev Museum’s showpieces that were also displayed at the exhibition, had been given back to Ukraine.
Amsterdam’s district court ruled in December 2016 that the Scythian gold should be returned to the Ukrainian side. That said, the court refused to decide on ownership, noting that this issue should be settled after the collection is returned to Ukraine. On March 28, 2017, the Amsterdam Court of Appeal received a petition from the Crimean museums to settle the Scythian gold dispute.