Auckland War Memorial Museum may not be dripping in stunning jewellery, but it still contains priceless artefacts that need protecting. Photo: Auckland Museum
Auckland War Memorial Museum may not be dripping in stunning jewellery, but it still contains priceless artefacts that need protecting
Running a museum full of valuable artefacts is largely about getting the balance right between security and accessibility.
Put everything behind bulletproof glass and you run the risk of visitors being disconnected from what they're seeing.
Don't and not only must you install enough security to deter thieves, but also to put off opportunistic vandals and political protestors.
Of course, sometimes even glass cases and high security aren't enough to stop theft.
When the Louvre Museum in Paris was the target of a brazen heist this week, robbers got away with $178 million in crown jewels and institutions around the world would have re-assessed their security measures.
The Auckland War Memorial Museum was no exception.
Chief executive David Reeves is in charge of making sure the six million items in his charge stay where they're meant to be.
"To make things completely safe, we could put everything in the basement," he says.
"The safest museum is a closed museum... we've had recent experience with that with our asbestos issue and that's not what we're here for."
I went there to work out the weak spots and how best to break in, and he not only laid out the welcome mat and gave me a floorplan, he did enough - without giving the game away - to put me off any attempts.
It's not because there's nothing in there worth stealing.
"Value is such a subjective thing," he says. "Something that might be valuable to you is going to be different to what's valuable to me.
"It really is the different stories, the different histories... people assign values in different ways.
"We've got so many unique things here, it's impossible to say this one's more valuable than that, because it depends what context you're talking about."
The museum has sufficient layers of security, seen and unseen, to give international exhibitors the confidence to lend their extremely valuable collections. For example, the recent Diva exhibition had enough costumes from a wide range of spectacular superstars to make any fashionista's fingers itch.
The security plan is checked out years in advance, but also takes in other considerations, such as air conditioning in the exhibition space, visitor services practices, fire suppression systems and alarms, and the proximity of external windows. (Spoiler alert: there are none in the exhibition area.)
"There's only a certain number of facilities in New Zealand that would qualify," he says. "We've got a pretty good facility here - usually, there's not too much trouble [in getting the security clearance]."
That security is there year round, not just when there's a special exhibition on.
"We deliberately don't put a big sign in front of the things that are the most expensive," he says. "Also, for museums, the monetary value is not the point of why they're being collected or looked after, so the monetary value is the least important thing for us.
"It's actually cultural value, historical value, what's meaningful to families who've donated things and so many things, it's hard to put a price on anyway.
"It's more important that things are safe and accessible, and therein lies the tension.
"As a public museum, we have to do both."
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