- Transporting the 400 Saudi archaeological masterpieces from the State Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg, Russia, to the Pergamon Museum in Berlin, Germany, was not an easy task.
- The mission took a few days, during which trucks drove 720 km and spent two days at sea.
At the conclusion of the Roads of Arabia exhibition at the State Hermitage Museum, a team from the Saudi Commission for Tourism and Antiquities (SCTA) started its mission to receive the pieces and accompany them to their fourth destination at the Pergamon Museum under the supervision of restoration experts from the museum.
The team started receiving and preserving the pieces according to a set plan — the large archaeological pieces first and then the smaller ones — ensuring all received pieces were safe and intact, in their designated boxes, numbered, registered and tagged.
The packaging procedure was completed in five days, and on the sixth day the pieces were stored safely until the scheduled shipping time.
On the shipping day the trucks with the archaeological pieces started a 300-km journey across the Russian borders to the Finnish capital Helsinki, where they were shipped during a two-day sea trip to Dortmund in Germany. From there, the pieces were transported again on a 420-km journey by trucks to Berlin.
Upon arrival in Berlin, the archaeological pieces were delivered to the Pergamon Museum, where the SCTA is currently putting the final touches for the inauguration of the exhibition on Jan. 25 in the presence of SCTA Chairman Prince Sultan bin Salman and the mayor of Berlin. The exhibition will stay there for three months.
The Pergamon Museum in Berlin is the fourth stop of the Saudi archaeological masterpieces’ tour around the world. During each stop, the exhibition attracted more than a million visitors.