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| | ICEFAT
Newsletter #4 — 2004 | |
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NO SUBSTITUTE FOR EXPERIENCE
| | Stockholm's
Royal Armoury is a museum full of complications when it comes to transportation.
Virtually every object in it needs its own specially built crates. And there is
a heavy program of loans to both Swedish and international museums. |
| | We
met Rebecka Enhörning, who is a textile conservator at the Royal Armoury,
to ask her about packaging and transportation of this huge collection of slightly
odd objects.
She has long experience of conservation work. Over the years
she has taken an active part in the Nordic Conservator's Association, serving
as Chairman for three years. | | | Rebecka
Enhörning, textile conservator at the Royal Armoury in Sweden, points out
that crates must look nice and professional. | | | Rebecka
and her colleagues at the Royal Armoury have acquired great experience of packaging
and transporting museum objects. And there is no substitute for experience, in
Rebecka's opinion. There are no special training courses in packing techniques,
and packing is not strongly prioritized in conservator training. | | —Also,
we have so many strange, weird objects, embroidered and sequined costumes, delicate
silks, saber, armour and so on, and there are no standard techniques or models
to go on. For example, how on earth do you package ten-foot-long halberds? she
says.
— There aren't any books to tell you that. And the problems
with standing mannequins in crates, when they can be exposed to shakes and knocks
when the trucks lift them out of the airplanes.
| Packaging,
says Rebecka, must also be simple to do, without complications and not too expensive.
One
aspect of packaging which is not often pinpointed, but which Rebecka Enhörning
stresses, is how the crates and boxes look.
—For international
transport and loans to foreign museums, I've noticed that the more elegant your
crates are, the better treatment you get from the receiving museum's staff. It
has to look nice and professional. By
Stefan Fors and Peter Ramberg | |
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