Three weeks ago I got back from a trip to Vienna where due to the weather conditions my friend and I had to spend a lot of time in museums. Belvedere is one of the most famous in Vienna with its incredible collection of Klimt works. Some of the paintings that were presented in the museum I had seen before in other cities. At that moment I started to wonder how the pieces of art are transported and what is behind that logistics process.
After a little research, I found a list of leaders who specialize in fine arts transportation. They all describe the process, as extremely complicated and delicate, that entails a lot of resources.
First of all, scientific pre-planning and program scheduling are needed as fine art pieces must be transported in special temperature and climate control vehicles equipped with security web-enabled cameras in humidity controlled storage facilities.
Secondly, only highly qualified and experienced art handlers can work with art pieces by following a certain packing and crating international fine art standards.
Thirdly, international transportation requires a lot of documentation work. At the beginning insurance should be issued and not every transportation company can be accredited. Then customs permission for temporary imports must be granted and at destination swift customs clearance must be performed.
Some of the links that visually demonstrate the process:
The blog of Logistics at MGEPS at UPV 