Art Museum of Estonia practices evacuation of museum objects
This week, a large crisis exercise called Ars Longa is taking place in Tallinn, during which the Art Museum of Estonia and the National Heritage Board practice evacuating the country's most valuable museum objects.
Crisis expert Linda Lainvoo said that the most complicated situation is war, but other larger and smaller incidents may also occur during which we need to move objects quickly.
Although the exercise now takes place with the aim of being prepared for the worst, there has actually been a moment in the history of Niguliste Museum when the collection had to be evacuated. This happened in 1943 during the Second World War.
"That gave us confirmation that it is possible to move them in large quantities at once," said Niguliste Museum director Merike Kurisoo.
To spare real artworks, models have been created of the works on display in Niguliste Museum, which weigh exactly the same and can be folded up in the same way if needed.
"These are still such rare and important objects that they will not be tossed around just like that. This is also part of what makes the field exercise so complicated and expensive — that we create objects on which we can test. This is not Ikea furniture. Here you really have to figure out how we do it and how we do it in a way that the work does not get damaged," Lainvoo said.
If something should happen at Niguliste, the older works must be taken out of the museum first, and then the newer works are handled. Lainvoo did not disclose where the works would be taken in a crisis.
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Editor: Karmen Rebane, Argo Ideon
