Historical background:
Our adventure with transporting works of art began thirty years ago. Initially, we mainly transported the famous Krakow cribs with nativity scenes. It was thanks to us, among other things, that the Krakow cribs could be admired by the visitors all over Europe from Oslo through Paris to Seville. We have been transporting Krakow cribs to the art exhibitions every year since then.
Professional Experience:
With time, we were faced with ever-tougher challenges in the works of art transport business. We transported increasingly valuable and demanding exhibits. For example, in 2004 we transported from the City of Zakopane to Bordeaux a unique collection of paintings painted on glass, dating back to the 18th and 19th centuries.
Over the years we have transported, among other things, works by Wit Stwosz, Jan Matejko, Jerzy Duda Gracz, Aleksander and Maksymilian Gierymski, Józef Chełmoński, Magdalena Abakanowicz, Józef Pankiewicz, Jerzy Panek, Rafał Malczewski and many, many others.
Undoubtedly, one of our major professional challenges was the movement of the "Sukiennice" Cloth Hall in Krakow. In connection with the renovation of the Gothic Cloth Hall building, one of the most valuable art collections of the National Museum, i.e. the Gallery of Polish painting and sculpture of the 19th century, had to be transported to Niepołomice Castle and then back to the Cloth Hall. At that time we were commissioned to transport 1500 artefacts, including such masters as Jan Matejko, Henryk Siemiradzki and Władysław Podkowiński.
We also transport and pack large-format paintings, and, among other things, we transported the diorama "Battle of Grunwald" by T. Popiel and Z. Rozwadowski from Vilnius to Lviv. The diorama has dimensions of 5.5 x 10 m and was transported on a specialist transport shaft that we made for it.
We carry out both large, multi-stage projects in the public sector, such as packing and transporting the entire collection and equipment of the Walery Rzewuski Museum of the History of Photography in Krakow to other locations (while the headquarters were being renovated), as well as rendering transport services to private collectors hauling their art collections or single paintings.
For many years now, we have delivered transport services to the Museum of Contemporary Art in Krakow (MOCAK) carrying such demanding artefacts as the sculptures of Krzysztof M. Bednarski.
Specialist fleet:
When shipping any works of art, we use dedicated vehicles converted for this purpose with a rigid container and isothermal chamber, soft suspension, padded cargo space and a special system of handles and straps for securing the cargo. Our transport vehicles are equipped with air-conditioned cargo space with an option of maintaining a constant temperature of 20°C and a constant humidity of 45-55%; they are also equipped with special recorders to keep track of these parameters. All our vehicles are equipped with hydraulic jacks.
Safety:
In the course of thirty years of operations, no work of art has ever been damaged during transport. Naturally, we insure all shipments of the works of art. We have a permanent Carrier's third party liability policy worth USD 500,000 in international traffic and PLN 1,000,000 in domestic traffic. We also hold a business activity insurance policy for the amount of PLN 1,000,000, in case our personnel cause any damage not directly related to transport. In addition, each time we provide insurance coverage for the exhibits up to their full value. At the client’s request, we can also take out a CARGO insurance policy. Thanks to our long-term cooperation with insurance companies and our reliability, we can offer our clients favourable insurance rates for the transported artefacts.
Our vehicles are equipped with a system for locating and monitoring the vehicle's mileage, which allows for constant supervision over the transported cargo.
In the case of works of art shipments with a value of more than 0.3 units we provide a professional convoy equipped with firearms in compliance with applicable legislation.
Not only transport services
Our offer includes not only the transport of works of art, but also the entire chain of logistic services rendered at exhibitions. We can offer to pack your exhibits in specialised packaging materials such as wind insulation plastic film made by Tyvek, silicone paper, acid-free paper, fleece, bubble wrap, sponges and foams etc. We also have wooden, fumigated climate chests, which we rent for the duration of the transport. We can also build chests to order to the required dimensions.
In our warehousing facilities we have approximately 400 chests and transport frames with various dimensions, suitable for the storage and transportation of both small artefacts as well as large paintings and sculptures. The chests can be rented for any length of time; we can deliver these to the location indicated by the client.
We also have a specialist crane with a lifting capacity of 3000 kg to move heavy objects.
We can arrange formalities for the couriers accompanying the works of art (including flights, accommodation, insurance, etc.).
In addition, we also deal with the disassembly and assembly of large-size works of art, including those suspended at great heights, e.g. in sacred buildings or halls.
For shipments outside the European Union, we take care for all formalities related to customs clearance on behalf of the client (ATA carnet, temporary clearance, T-1).
Qualified personnel:
Our staff have many years of professional experience in dealing with the works of art; they have repeatedly packed artefacts that are very difficult to transport, under the supervision of a conservator. Our drivers are always battle-proven and trustworthy people, with no criminal record and excellent references. At our office, the experienced forwarders will answer any questions and queries you might have. You can also contact us in English and Russian.
We operate based on fair play principles, all our personnel members are employed on the basis of an employment contract.