The collections of the National Museum of the History of Ukraine have been replenished with the largest transfer of artifacts in recent history – about eight thousand rare exhibits have been added to the collection.
This is reported by Kyiv24
A Unique Collection in Scale and Content
The transfer of exhibits has become the most extensive in the entire history of independent Ukraine. The collection received by the museum consists of items from archaeology, numismatics, weaponry, and antiques, which hold exceptional historical, cultural, scientific, and artistic value. Many of them are unique and have no counterparts in the state museum collections of the country.
The collection spans the period from the Late Paleolithic to the Late Middle Ages and is distinguished by a variety of artifacts. It includes valuable examples of weaponry and protective gear, such as axes and swords from the Late Bronze Age, swords from the Early Iron Age, an exclusive Byzantine sword from the 9th century, Scandinavian swords from the 10th century, as well as cold weapons up to the times of the world wars. Among the special items are details of women’s costumes, fibulae, and unique eagle-headed buckles of the Goths from the 6th–7th centuries AD from Crimea, as well as ancient red-figure pottery from the 4th century BC.
Valuable Coins and the History of the Collection’s Seizure
The most numerous part of the transfer is the coin collection – it consists of nearly six thousand items, covering the period from antiquity to the Late Middle Ages. Of particular interest are the coins from the Greek states of the Northern Black Sea region – Olbia, Panticapaeum, Chersonesus, as well as the coin hryvnias of Kievan Rus from the 11th to 14th centuries.
The transfer of rarities became possible thanks to the coordinated actions of the Office of the Prosecutor General, the State Bureau of Investigations, the National Museum of the History of Ukraine, and the Ministry of Culture. In 2022, investigators from the SBI seized the unique collection from the personal collection of former Ukrainian MP Valeriy Horbatov as part of a criminal proceeding and transferred it for safekeeping to the museum.
Subsequently, as a result of Horbatov’s cooperation with law enforcement, an agreement was reached between him and the prosecution regarding a plea bargain, and the former official decided to officially transfer the entire collection to the state through a donation agreement in favor of the National Museum of the History of Ukraine.
Valeriy Horbatov served as the head of the Council of Ministers of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea from 2001 to 2002 and was a member of the Ukrainian parliament from 1994 to 2006. The collection itself was discovered during a search of the attic of his house. According to the SBI’s information for 2022, the artifacts found may have been stolen from museums in Crimea or purchased from so-called “black archaeologists.”
“SBI employees, based on information from the National Police, uncovered the financing of the terrorist organization ‘DNR’ by a former Ukrainian MP who headed the Council of Ministers of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea in the early 2000s. He continued to conduct business activities in the occupied territories of Ukraine and paid taxes to the occupiers. The former official also appropriated Ukraine’s cultural heritage, which, according to preliminary information, was stolen from museums in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and purchased from ‘black archaeologists.'”