21st Century Security Meets 15th Century Facility

Jun 1, 2006 12:00 PM

Modeled after a 15th century Venetian palazzo, the intimate Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum is Boston's only Venetian palace — and home to one of the most remarkable art collections in the world, including more than 2,500 paintings, sculptures, tapestries, furniture, manuscripts, rare books and decorative arts.

The galleries house works by some of the most recognized artists in the world, including Titian, Rembrandt, Michelangelo, Raphael, Botticelli, Manet, Degas, Whistler and Sargent.

When it came to securing such a beautiful and historic facility, officials at the museum selected the Casi Secure Perfect access control system manufactured by General Electric, to be provided by MAC Systems, Canton, Mass.

“This is the next step in the museum's security system upgrades demonstrating our commitment to maintaining a safe and secure environment for its visitors, employees, and its collection,” says Anthony Amore, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum's director of security. “Our facility will not only benefit from improved domain control and awareness, but also from increased staff efficiencies.”

According to Don Beers, MAC Systems account executive, an installation of this type presents a number of challenges, the most demanding being project coordination and execution.

“Because the Museum is to remain as a 15th century Venetian Palace with everything in place as it was originally established, we need to plan and execute accordingly,” Beers says. “In an effort to assist in the upgrade of the entire security system, we will be deploying some of the industry's latest security technologies in a century-old museum, itself a work of art, protecting some of the world's most famous artworks and master paintings.”

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