Climate control gadgets and evacuation plan a must for international exhibitions

Written By Unknown on Minggu, 12 Januari 2014 | 22.23

MUMBAI: Every five minutes at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya in Mumbai, an electronic gadget records the temperature and relative humidity in a gallery housing the 2,500-year-old Cyrus Cylinder from the British Museum. If the set limits are breached, the gadget sounds an alarm. These weekly logs and graphs are then compiled into a bulky file - closely resembling a sickly patient's medical records - and sent to the British Museum for inspection. "Each material needs a different temperature and humidity," explains the director general of CSMVS Sabyasachi Mukherjee. The ongoing "Cyrus Cylinder and Ancient Persia" exhibition, for instance, must be kept between 20 and 24 degrees celsius with the relative humidity not exceeding 55%.

The protocol around climate control is just one of the many standards a museum must adhere to before it can host an international exhibition. The facility report sent to the British Museum for the ancient Persia exhibition, for instance, included an evacuation plan for the artefacts in case of an emergency, a report on the museum's structural integrity and a detailed account of its electrical wiring to alleviate fears of a fire. These exacting safeguards, however, didn't catch CSMVS off guard. After all, they've already hosted big-ticket exhibitions. The 3,000-year-old mummy, Nesperennub from the British Museum, resided at CSMVS for four months during an exhibition on ancient Egypt in 2012 and 2013.

"The most expensive exhibition is 'Flemish Masterpieces from Antwerp', reveals Mukherjee. "It cost around 8 crore, which includes the insurance value, the cost of transportation, security and installation." This ongoing exhibition, which has paintings by Flemish masters like Paul Rubens has round-the-clock security including electronic surveillance, burglar alarms and 70-80 guards.

While transporting these exhibitions, the crates are fitted with GPS devices and special bolts that cannot be opened with an ordinary screwdriver.

Precious consignments like the Egyptian mummies and the Flemish masterpieces are often transported on two aircrafts. "If you bring everything on one aircraft and something goes wrong, you've lost everything," explains Mukherjee. Additionally, the consignments are accompanied by a conservator from the lending institution, who remains with the artefacts throughout.

Packing these precious objects requires an intimate knowledge of how different materials impact clay or metal artefacts. Usually inert, polyester materials like Melinex or Mylar are used. "If you use wool or silk to cushion your silver, it will turn black because they are sulfur-containing agents," explains Anupam Sah, head of art conservation at CSMVS. In fact, before an exhibition even arrives, the lending institution must be given detailed information about the brand of paint and the type of cloth used in the display cabinets.

Once the consignment reaches Indian soil, customs officials accompany the crates - which are often fitted with gadgets to measure if they have been dropped or tilted - to the host museum where they are opened in the presence of conservationists from both the lending and borrowing institutions. The entire proceeding is captured on video camera. "They prepare a condition report documenting any crack or damage and our conservator checks using that report. If he finds anything new, he adds to it," explains Mukherjee.

These processes come in handy if an insurance claim has to be filed. The lending institution determines the insurance value of an artefact before it is shipped abroad. "It is very difficult to put a value on something which is irreplaceable but we nevertheless have to," said John Curtis, Keeper of Special Middle East Projects at the British Museum. "What you have to think about is if such a thing were available on the open market today, how much would someone be willing to pay?"


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