The Move Downstairs at The Benaki Museum

A new base has been designed for the Totem Pole, and the paint/consolidation work is all dry.  This means that the Totem Pole is ready to be moved to the ground floor of the Benaki museum for display, standing upright, as it was meant to be seen.  Once again our expert team of movers wraps up the Chiefs Crest Pole preparing it for the move.

As with moving it upstairs, everything is done slowly and carefully.

Once in the area when it will be displayed, the Totem Pole is carefully positioned and lifted to its resting place.  This was the moment that everybody was nervous and where the movers worked extra carefully.

But everything went off without a hitch, and after a few adjustments to be sure that the Totem Pole was placed in the best possible spot, the protective wrapper was removed.

Now the Chief's Crest Pole awaits its grand showing, this Thursday when the Benaki museum open's its doors.  If you'd like to come visit the Totem Pole, this Thursday, or any day, it will remain on display for a while.  You can click here for more information about the museum and its hours.

A Quick Video of Last Week's Move

Last week's move from the basement to the 3rd floor of the Benaki Museum was a slow and meticulous maneuver.  The move itself took more than 3 hours, but you can watch all of the highlights from the move in less than a minute and half.

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.

When The Pole Came To Greece

Foreign Affairs Canada have it recorded that this totem was a gift to the Canadian Embassy in Athens from the Premier of the Canadian province of British Columbia. The Premier's name was W. A. Bennett (he was Premier starting August 1, 1952 till September 15, 1972), while the Canadian Ambassador in Greece at the time was Mr. M. Gauvin. The gift was made during the term of Mr. Gauvin's ambassadorship, between 1970 and 1975.

For a short time the Totem Pole was on display at the front door of the embassy, but after some re-design of the lobby it had to be moved.  The decision was to move it into the garden of the Official Residence. Some might argue that it was a bad choice to move this piece of art outdoors, but there's also merit in displaying this fine piece of art in a natural surrounding.

A Fond Farewell To The Totem Pole

Ambassador Robert Peck and his wife Maria Pantazi-Peck say their goodbyes to the Totem Pole before the big move.

From the Official Residence:

"The garden of the Official Residence in Athens is not quite the same since Chief Tony Hunt's totem left last week for restoration at the Benaki Museum. The totem was the focal point of the garden and at night, stood out as a proud symbol of Canada's First Nation's heritage beneath the towering palms.

Chief Hunt's visit last year was a highlight of the totem story. At an evening talk about his art attended by diplomats and cultural contacts, Hunt emotionally told us that the totem in Athens was only the third he had carved at the very start of his career. Who would have thought of such a reunion in Athens almost 40 years later!

Although the totem's absence leaves a major void, the sun and heat over the years had started to exact a heavy toll. A face-lift will no doubt bring back much of the work's original resonance.

Pending plans for the totem's future in an indoor location, it will be on display following restoration at the Benaki Museum in Athens so that members of the Greek public, especially children, will learn about Canada's history and diversity."

Maria Pantazi-Peck, spouse of Robert Peck, Ambassador of Canada to the Hellenic Republic

Moving From The Official Residence To The Benaki Museum

The big day has arrived, the Totem Pole is making it's way from it's current home at the official residence of the Ambassador from Canada, to the Benaki Museum where it will be restored in front of a public audience. The tensions were a little bit high this morning, because we wanted everything to go perfectly.

The movers arrived and assessed the situation, the first priority was to make sure the pole was in no danger of being damaged, so a layer of padding was added.  This layer was added to make sure that all of the hands needed to move this very large and very heavy piece of art would not scuff or scratch the delicate surface.

As soon as it was wrapped up tight, the nerve wracking moment started.  Slowly the Pole was lowered to the ground where it could be wrapped with even more padding, and eventually moved to a crate waiting near the moving truck.  The piece could not be crated on site because the crate was too large to move onto the property.

The move across the property was smooth, slow and calculated.

Fortunately the Totem Pole made it safely where it was gentle placed in its crate ready for the ride to the Benaki Museum.

The ride to the Benaki museum went very smoothly and the Totem seems to be in fine condition in the crate, however a new problem has arisen...

It appears that the Totem Pole has become the home for a colony of ants.  With the infestation the Totem Pole cannot  be brought into the final room at the Benaki Museum where the repairs are to be done.  Instead the Totem Pole will have to be stored in a storage room for a little while and fumigated to get rid of the ants.

This delay should not affect the repairs and restoration of the Totem Pole since they where not scheduled to start until early October.  We'll post more details about the fumigation as it happens.


 Here's a bonus YouTube video showing a time-lapse of the Totem Pole takedown.

If you want to see more pictures from the move, like the Totem Pole In Attica Facebook page.