The Treasures of Crimea

The travelling exhibition Crimea – Gold and Treasures of the Black Sea are being held hostage in the cellars of the Allard Pierson Museum in Amsterdam, and it can’t go back home: since the annexation of Crimea by Putin, the art collection has become stateless. The treasures that were excavated on the peninsula have become a plaything in a power struggle between de museums at Crimea and the government in Ukraine. Both parties claim the archeological collection as their own, like roots of their identity. The Netherlands has unwillingly become a referee: to which party should the treasures been given back?