It is the true secret knowledge. How do the works travel inside and outside Spain? Who protects them? The Prado Museum has historically been very jealous of this information, although it opens a crack of light. In essence, it is about the vindication of one of the most valuable and least known figures of the Madrid art gallery: the mail and its transportation and security systems. This unknown front line defend professionals such as María Antonio López de Asiaín, who moved the work to the Vivanco Museum of Wine Culture (La Rioja) in April Offering to Bacchus of Houasse; or Sonia Tortajada, who took care, at similar times, of the beautiful Dead Christ supported by an angel by Alonso Cano in its transit to the Museum of Fine Arts of Granada, thanks to the centenary of Telefónica.
The works travel in boxes with no identification of their origin or the canvas they contain. No stamps. Just a code of numbers. The word fragile and the black arrows that indicate their correct position. If they are transported by plane, not even the captain knows the origin of the treasure, or treasures, that he is transporting in the hold. They could be Rubens, Velázquez, Goya… “We are the ones who know what we are carrying, but we don’t say it,” reflects María Antonia López de Asiaín, restorer of the art gallery. “Only a very limited number of people know it.” And she sums up: “Discretion rules.” Not even customs gives detailed information.
The conservatives prefer that they travel by land transport. It is loaded and sealed. The vehicle is controlled by GPS, the National Police knows in advance the entire national and international route. When it leaves the Spanish border, its custody is passed on to a private company or the country’s police. But always informing the Spanish institution. During each night it is monitored and the truck is parked, during breaks, in sight of the transporters and security forces. Land transport allows to guarantee the conditions (and the pieces travel with a system called Thermo Kingwhich ensures the parameters of temperature and humidity. The Prado requires a temperature of 21ºC +/- 1ºC in its loan rooms; a humidity of 65% +/- 5%, 150 lumens for paintings and 50 for paper graphics, and a protective catenary. In addition, the works must always acclimatize for 24 hours in the box. Due to the safety requirements of the painting, the Prado uses two models, depending on the needs of the traveler: a Basic Prado and a Superior Prado.
It is more complicated to make Goya, Ribera or Velázquez fly. mail They fly two planes. In his slang. Busthose where people and works in the winery go at the top (the most common) and freighters. The latter, who also receive minimal information, can transport works larger than 1.70 centimeters, but require special tickets. The problem is that, due to the security of the airport itself (it is prohibited to go onto the runways), the courier loses control of the work (the pallet is moved by a bull) for a few eternal minutes. No professional can embark until he is sure that the work has also been done. Being a courier has no schedule. Every day of the year and all its hours. Snow, rain or the plane is cancelled.
“When the work reaches its destination, you are the Prado,” says López de Asiaín. That means dealing with the unexpected. An unfinished wall, rooms that are not yet clean, inadequate lighting, a work on the air conditioning and the worst: the box is already open. The way to protect it? “Stand by its side all the time to watch the painters, assemblers, electricians, who are not our team; and shield it with your body,” explains Isabel Bennasar, who works in the Prado’s works registry. “And always ask for any changes with exquisite correctness, because you are out of your home”: raise the height of the oil paintings so that they do not rub against visitors’ bags or place the canvas in a better monitored area.
Being a courier is not something you can learn and you have to make decisions on the spot. And you should know that “the most delicate moment is handling the installation; having 17 eyes on the lookout: lighting technicians, painters, cleaning,” warns the expert. And she explains: “To avoid this, we try to hang it last.” The courier supervises the packing, unpacking, loading, unloading and is present in all the handling of the work.
It’s all about practice. The most experienced train the young ones. Of course, technology has arrived and the works registration department keeps such an exhaustive control that it even includes images of the ramps, the turns or the areas through which the paintings must pass. It controls the entire management of the work. The great central computer. From providing the information to the mail to coordinate with the National Police.
Let’s go back two years. It is the average time frame with which the works are requested. The National Gallery in London, for example, has petitioned for a Velazquez. The restoration department issues its report, which reaches the Board of Trustees, in which it argues whether it can be provided or not. There is pleasure. The mechanism is already working. There is a loan certificate (a delivery receipt with, among other information, the box number and seal) provided by the Registry, a conservation report on the work and an internal document that is a note of incidents in which the For example, the quality of the assemblers at the final destination. The minutes and report must be signed by those responsible for registration and conservation of the exhibition that receives the work. Others—very few—are carried by hand. “That is terrible because you are very exposed, even though there is no external identification,” recalls Asiaín.
Exceptional circumstances
This profession is a choreography, and the anecdotes would fill a room in the museum. During the pandemic, there were 49 works loaned from outside and inside Spain that had to be brought back. Video technology helped. The attacks of September 11, 2001 coincided with the great exhibition, organized in Jackson, Mississippi (United States), The majesty of Spain, which contained 360 unique pieces from the Prado and National Heritage. They returned as American airspace reopened. Or that time when the pieces were traveling on a freighter near some horses and María Antonia decided not to go down to see the paintings to avoid making the animals nervous. “You learn with practice,” she summarizes. “The mail is the first line of the trench and if you don’t like something or it doesn’t comply you should act because you work so that the work never suffers.”
However, there are also large sculptures in the Prado and handling them is difficult. “If it is vertical, it has to be transported vertically, just as it exists. And the box and packaging are designed in that position,” stresses Sonia Tortajada, sculpture restorer. This greatly limits the means of transport and sometimes, on international trips, you have to resort to a freighter if you cannot find a plane with the necessary load capacity. The art gallery also provides this service. mail to other institutions or private collections that need help.
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