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Netherlands return archeological artefacts to Ukraine

Wednesday, 20 March 2024, 18:06
Netherlands return archeological artefacts to Ukraine
The spearheads returned by the Netherlands. Photo: Iryna Drabok/Ukraine’s Ministry of Culture

The Netherlands has returned eight archaeological artefacts that had been illegally exported from Ukraine's territory.

Source: press service of the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine, as reported by European Pravda

Details: On 20 March, Alfred Roos, Director of the Information and Heritage Inspectorate and Cultural Heritage Agency of the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science of the Netherlands, handed over eight archaeological items to the Ukrainian Embassy in the Netherlands that had previously been illegally transported away from Ukrainian territory.

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When the artefacts arrived in the Netherlands in March 2023, Dutch customs officials were concerned they might have been stolen. 

 
Photo: Iryna Drabok

Following that, specialised institutions in the Netherlands investigated the origins of the discoveries, contacting the National Museum of History of Ukraine.

When it was discovered that the artefacts had been illegally taken from Ukraine, the person to whom they were addressed refused to make any claims to them.

In the autumn of 2023, after an almost 10-year legal battle, the Scythian gold, artefacts from four Crimean museums, which were presented at the exhibition "Crimea: Gold and Secrets of the Black Sea" in Amsterdam, returned to Ukraine. 

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