Art and Heritage in Transport: Fear, Perception and Statistics

The fear of damage to objects of art and cultural heritage during transport continues to plague the heritage profession. This is largely a fear of the unknown based mostly on anecdotal horror stories, rather than practical experience, testing, and an understanding of the mechanics of materials. In order to provide a solid basis for further developments in the mitigation of transport risks, the author conducted a statistical survey of the loan transport records of thirteen museums on four continents. The objective was to determine how often damage occurred, and what the root cause was, including vibrations or shock. The results showed that out of almost 4000 objects studied, including over 12,000 object movements and 25,000 handling moments, only 151 changes were found according to courier reports. Of those, only 38 were considered to be serious or bad. The root cause was mostly poor handling or packaging and not vibrations nor shock during actual transport. There is still room for improvement in the level of care taken during the transport of objects. However, the focus needs to be on training and awareness of personnel who handle such objects, and not on expensive, overdesigned mitigation solutions.