The Move Upstairs

When planning this restoration project, the goal was to make as much of the process available for everyone to see.  Today the Chief's Crest Pole was moved to the 3rd floor of the Benaki museum from the basement. It was kept in the basement because of the need to get rid of the ant infestation before keeping it around other artwork, but the ants are gone now.  In the 3rd floor of the Benaki museum anybody in Athens can come and see Andrew Todd work on the restoring this wonderful piece of art.  But getting it from the basement was no easy task.

The first step in moving it upstairs was to make sure it was well protected.

Since the Chief's Crest Pole was much too long to fit even the biggest elevator at the museum, the Pole had to be taken out the garage door.

The Pole had to be moved outside, and rolled down the street into the main entrance of the museum.  I think the neighbors were very puzzled with this strange object blocking traffic.

Getting it into the main part of the museum was the first step, the next step was to move it onto the 3rd floor, with no elevator big enough.  Fortunately the Benaki museum has ramps all the way up to the 3rd floor.

Unfortunately the ramps take very steep turns and the Chief's Crest Pole is a little to tall for the landings.

With a great deal of ingenuity and a lot of brute strength the pole arrived into Andrew Todd's studio at the museum.

A quick hoist up on the work benches.

And the Cheif's Crest Pole was unwrapped and ready for the restoration work to begin.  We'll keep you posted on the hours you can come to the Benaki Museum to watch Andrew Todd work his magic.  We'll also be announcing several lectures by Andrew as well.