The Dutch are in doubt - where will the Crimean Scythian gold be returned?

AMSTERDAM (Associated Press) - A Dutch history museum got more than it expected when it organized an exhibition of ancient treasures from Ukraine - in addition to bronze swords, golden helmets and precious stones, it also inherited a diplomatic mess.

AP photo: The tombstone of a horse nomad of the first - second century AD, shown as part of the exhibition entitled "Crimea - Gold and Mysteries of the Black Sea", at the Allard Pearson Historical Museum in Amsterdam, Friday, April 4, 2014

Russia seized Crimea a month after the Allard Pearson Museum opened the exhibition "Crimea - Gold and Secrets of the Black Sea" in February. Keepers say now that they are not sure where the objects will be returned when the demonstration ends in August.

Photo by AP: A Chinese lacquer casket, first century AD, a posthumous gift to the Last Scythian Woman, displayed as part of the exhibition entitled "Crimea - Gold and Mysteries of the Black Sea", at the Allard Pearson Historical Museum

Officials from Ukraine, as well as from Russia, insist that the Crimean treasures must be returned to them. "We are investigating who is the legal owner," said museum representative Amber van Schagen-Feijen Friday. The museum enlisted experts from the University of Amsterdam and the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs for advice on what to do next.

AP photo: Spirals torque of the second century AD, displayed as part of the exhibition called "Crimea -. Gold and Secrets of the Black Sea", at the Allard Pearson Historical Museum in Amsterdam, Friday, April 4, 2014

Among the most stunning objects on display is a golden Scythian helmet from the 4th century BC. and gold neck ornaments of the second century AD, which weigh more than a kilogram (two pounds) each.

AP photo: Scythian gold, a helmet from the fourth century BC, is displayed as part of the exhibition entitled "Crimea -. Gold and Secrets of the Black Sea", at the Allard Pearson Historical Museum in Amsterdam, on Friday, April 4, 2014

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine appealed to the Dutch ambassador in Kyiv last week to guarantee the safe return of the collection to Ukraine. The Minister of Culture of the country Evgeny Nyschuk pointed out that it was his office that approved the exhibition in the first place - in one of the largest releases of the country's historical collections abroad ever - and it should return via the same route.

AP photo: The grave goods of the last Scythian elite woman of the first century AD, displayed as part of the exhibition entitled "Crimea - Gold and Secrets of the Black Sea", at the Allard Pearson Historical Museum in Amsterdam

"This is about the national security of the cultural heritage of the Ukrainian state," Nyschuk said in a statement. But four of the five museums that provided the exhibits are located in Crimea. Somewhat sharply, the main theme of the exhibition is the history of this region, often conquered and as a crossroads for various peoples and cultures: modern Sevastopol was once the territory of a Greek colony that exchanged grain for pottery from the Athenian Empire.

AP photo: Scythian gold, a helmet from the fourth century BC, is displayed as part of the exhibition entitled "Crimea -. Gold and Secrets of the Black Sea", at the Allard Pearson Historical Museum in Amsterdam, on Friday, April 4, 2014

In the grave of a noblewoman who lived on the western coast of Crimea in the first century AD, archaeologists found an Egyptian scarab, Roman pots from Italy and France, as well as a lacquer casket from the Han dynasty, which, as they assume, got there from China via the Great Silk Road.

Russian President Vladimir Putin's representative for culture, Mikhail Shvydkoi, said that the treasures should be returned to Crimea, but he admitted that the situation is awkward. "Since Crimea became part of another country, we have a legal issue here, but we are going to find a solution for it," Shvydkoy said.

The exhibition was compiled by one of the most famous archaeologists of the region, Valentina Mordvintseva. In the exhibition documents, it is indicated as being based in the Ukrainian National Academy of Sciences in Simferopol, Krym.

According to mail.com