When the royal tunnel gates from the original Wembley Stadium went up for auction in November 2011, few would have predicted that the successful bid would come from a museum in Chile. But successful they were, and Anglo Pacific has now shipped the gates to capital Santiago.

Terry Horsnell, Anglo Pacific's Fine Art Consultant said, “I genuinely love a challenge and 16 foot square gates don’t get more challenging.” He added that the gates were stored in a yard in Kettering and just getting them, vertical to remove and then horizontal to travel, was a mission – particularly as overhead telephone and power cables came into play.  Anglo then had to liaise with the authorities to get the necessary wide load permits for the evening road trip from Kettering to London.

For the Atlantic crossing, the gates were too large for containers so had to be packaged in timber casing, lifted with specialist equipment and shipped as conventional below-deck cargo.  “A shipment like this only comes four or five times a year,” said Terry. “A recent comparable job was a 16-foot high Salvador Dalí statue we transported to Singapore - and it’s great fun to fine-tune all the logistical intricacies.”

The gates date back to 1923.  They took centre stage during London’s second Olympics in 1948 when the teams used them for access to the ground.  Old Wembley closed in October 2000 and the iconic twin towers were demolished in 2003 with the gates days away from the same fate.  Fortunately registered charity the Brooking Trust was able to whisk them to safe storage at Greenwich University.  The gates were sold by Sotheby’s in London for £5,785 and were among nine lots that included a round window from the iconic twin towers and lights from the royal box. 

Hernán García, Executive Director of Chile’s Museo de la Moda (Fashion Museum) said, “This is the first time we’ve worked with Anglo Pacific but, given the dimensions, delicacy, incalculable historic significance and value of the gates, we had to work with a reliable specialist.  Thankfully the auction house was able to recommend Anglo Pacific and so far so good – the attention to detail and customer care has been excellent.”

The old Wembley gates were due to arrive in Santiago by 24 March and will form part of the Museo de la Moda’s main project, a collection of pieces related to football, tennis and other sports.  They hope to convey the history of sport around the world through clothing, accessories and other related items such as these impressive gates.