Ukraine to Show Pectoral and See Gate in Britain

Ukraine will exhibit Scythian gold in Great Britain, and the latter will show the Holy Gate of the Lavra Church of the Holy Virgin in Ukraine, which is owned by the British Museum. This was discussed last Wednesday evening between Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych of Ukraine and a well-known art patron Jacob Rothschild, Ukraine’s Minister of Culture and the Arts Yury Bohutsky said. The minister explained that these issues had been discussed precisely with Lord Rothschild because he “is in charge” of the Holy Gate being exhibited at Somerset House Gilbert Collection. Mr. Bohutsky said the Gate had been gifted to the church by Catherine II and taken to Russia in the 1930s to be kept at the state repository. It was later sold to a private US collector. “Today, the Gate is kept at this museum under the patronage of the Rothschild family,” Interfax-Ukraine quotes the minister as saying. Asked if it is possible to return these rarities to Ukraine, Mr. Bohutsky said “we cannot raise this question” in the near future. “We cannot prove with documents how the Holy Gate was smuggled out, sold to a private collector, and then came to the museum. The question of return can only be raised in the case of illegal removal,” the minister said. Yet, he was convinced that both sides would agree to exhibit these relics. Mr. Bohutsky announced that Lord Rothschild had told Mr. Yanukovych about his desire to fund Ukrainian cultural projects, including the exposition in Britain of Scythian gold and the famous pectoral.