ICEFAT on the Inca Trail: Shipping the Treasures of Machu Picchu
- Company News
In the middle of a tropical mountain forest in Peru stands the ancient city of Machu Picchu, built some 550 years ago. This incredible site draws over 1.5 million visitors every year and is considered one of the New Seven Wonders of the World alongside the likes of the Taj Mahal, the Great Wall of China, and the Colosseum. Its archaeological treasures, which provide a glimpse into the Inca Empire at the height of its glory, are much sought after and travel often to international exhibitions.
Transporting these artifacts to faraway destinations from their mountain home some 2,500 metres above sea level is a logistical feat of epic proportions. N Leigh Transporte de Arte SAC has been entrusted by the Peruvian government to convey the architectural treasures of Machu Picchu since 2010 when the US returned the original excavation of antiquities. Through collaboration with ICEFAT’s global network, the Lima-based company plays a major role in connecting international audiences with the greatest tangible legacy of the Inca civilization.
Cusco Cargo – bringing artifacts home after 100 years
When Machu Picchu was discovered in 1911 by Yale archaeologist Hiram Bingham III, its artifacts were taken to the university to be studied and would not return to Peru for another century. An agreement for their return was finally reached in November 2010 and N Leigh was instrumental in bringing them home. Collaborating with the Peruvian Ministry of Culture, the Peruvian Air Force, and fellow-ICEFAT agent U.S.Art Company, Inc. (who handled the American leg of the project), N Leigh transported thousands of objects over two years, including textiles, ceramics, gold relics, and even mummies. These objects, which were packed in accordance with their respective structural vulnerabilities, were shipped first to Lima for a repatriation ceremony at the presidential residence, before making an onward journey to Cusco.
N Leigh unloading the Machu Picchu shipment at Government Palace, Lima.
The treasured objects are now permanently installed in a new museum in Cusco, the Museo Machu Picchu Casa Concha, which is home to the largest collection of artifacts from the historic site in Peru. N Leigh played a key role in its formation, having delivered every exhibit to the museum. Some objects remain on site at Machu Picchu, forming the collection of a separate museum.
Navigating the Andes – overcoming mountainous challenges
Shipping fragile objects from a remote mountain citadel would pose complex challenges to most but is second nature to the team at N Leigh. Like ICEFAT agents worldwide, they have a profound understanding of the logistical particularities of their projects and navigate them with great expertise. Before the treasures of Machu Picchu can travel to exhibitions on international shores, the N Leigh team must first make the complex journey to collect them. A round-trip journey can take anywhere from 18 to 36 hours and requires meticulous planning, as even the most minor delay can jeopardise the delivery. So precious is the cargo that a courier from the Ministry of Culture must be present on each trip.
N Leigh handlers carrying a crate into the site museum at Machu Picchu.
The journey requires collaboration between many parties, including the site team and airline, in a process masterfully coordinated by N Leigh. To access the site museum, the specialists at N Leigh fly from Lima to Cusco, then travel by rail to the nearest town, which even then is still 2.3km from the site. N Leigh’s efforts are complicated further by the fact that the trains which go to Machu Picchu are comprised only of passenger carriages, and the exterior crate used for collection must therefore be built to the dimensions of a passenger door. To complete the trip, the N Leigh team is driven to the onsite museum by one of the few authorised vehicles in Machu Picchu, usually a tour-guide truck, or the vehicle used to transport museum staff.
The use of rail freight is intermittent in the art shipping industry at present, but with growing pressure from clients to adopt ever more sustainable practices, ICEFAT members anticipate this becoming more commonplace. The expertise that N Leigh has acquired through rail shipments to Machu Picchu will prove useful as the industry begins to more widely adopt this alternative means of transport.
ICEFAT’s International Network – transporting treasures worldwide
As the only shipping company in Peru that specialises in art and culture, N Leigh regularly handles the treasures of Machu Picchu for international exhibitions, including ‘Machu Picchu and the Golden Empires of Peru’, which travelled from Boca Raton in Florida to Paris and Milan in 2021-23. N Leigh shipped to China just recently for the touring exhibition ‘The Incas and their Tawantinsuyu: The Land of Four Quarters’ and will in the autumn ship further Incan artifacts for an exhibition in Sydney, Australia. For the exhibition in China, the N Leigh team were commissioned to pack and transport 148 archaeological artifacts, which required collection from 13 museums across Peru; to gather the objects, they traversed the country’s northern and southern coasts, and ventured through the Interandean Valleys, which took almost a month altogether.
N Leigh handlers packing an Incan agricultural tool for international shipment.
Monica Bazan, the daughter of N Leigh’s founder and its Exhibitions and Art Manager, comments that her team “is proud to play a role in showcasing Peruvian culture around the globe, with the assistance of the ICEFAT network”. Through collaboration with the likes of Dietl International in the US, and MTAB Group in Scandinavia, N Leigh have been instrumental in drawing international attention to the rich cultural heritage of South America and ensuring that the once-lost City of the Incas is never again lost to history.
