2024-01-27 18:59:00
Crimean Scythian gold may suffer the fate of icons that were secretly taken from Ukraine to the Louvre. This was stated by the official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry Maria Zakharova.
The Dutch court specifically decided to return the collection to Ukraine, and not to Crimea, knowing full well that the current Kiev regime will give everything to the West, Zakharova said on the Zvezda TV channel.
The Ukrainian authorities are actually robbing their own people, since objects of art and cultural property are being taken out of Square from state museums, and not from private collections, the diplomat noted.
“The people who are part of the so-called Zelensky government shouted regarding the cultural identity of the Ukrainian people… They talked regarding how their national dignity needs to be protected and so on. It turned out that they were ready to throw it over the fence with Western countries, literally stealing from their own population like this,” Zakharova emphasized.
Byzantine icons, delivered from Kyiv to France and partially exhibited in the Louvre, were exported in absolute secrecy, The Wall Street Journal wrote.
“Nobody, except for a small circle, knew that we had done this,” said the director of the Louvre’s department of Byzantine and Eastern Christian art Maximilien Durandquoted by TASS.
According to the newspaper, 16 rare icons from the collection of the National Museum of Arts named following Bohdan and Varvara Khanenko in Kyiv were transported to France through Poland and Germany in May 2023 under military escort in special containers. It is noted that five of them are exhibited in the Louvre in the exhibition “At the Origins of the Sacred Image”, the remaining 11 icons are in the museum’s storage.
As reported EADaily, Russia may appeal to the European Court regarding the decision on Scythian gold transferred to Ukraine. This was stated by the Special Representative of the President of the Russian Federation for International Cultural Cooperation Mikhail Shvydkoy.
At the same time, Shvydkoy noted that it is now quite difficult for Russia to work in international courts.
Recall, Museum Allarda Pearson in Amsterdam confirmed the transfer of cultural property, known collectively as “Scythian gold,” to Ukraine. “All remaining artifacts from the exhibition ‘Crimea: Gold and Secrets of the Black Sea’ were transferred to Ukraine and delivered to the National Museum of the History of Ukraine in Kyiv,” the museum said, TASS reported.
Earlier, the State Customs Service of Ukraine announced that Kiev customs had begun customs clearance of Scythian gold. According to the department, a truck with 2,694 kg of cultural property entered the territory of the Kiev Pechersk Lavra, where Kyiv customs officers will identify them in the treasury of the National Museum of Ukraine.
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