Moving the Vatican's priceless statues has become one of the jobs of a Welsh lift firm. Chepstow-based Reid Lifting has been commissioned to make a lifting system to allow conservation workers to move statues in and out of display niches.
The Vatican Museums with a 22,000- strong statue collection, already uses the firm's equipment, when shipping on-loan statues to museums worldwide.
The London Underground and British Waterways also use the systems.
Reid Lifting's managing director Nick Battersby was invited to Rome by the head conservationist at the Vatican to help find a solution to the tricky problem of moving priceless statues made of marble and limestone and weighing up to 3.5 tonnes from hard-to-reach recesses.
The contract follows in the wake of an on-going expansion by the firm which started as a "back-bedroom" sole trader operation and now employs 17 people at its site on the Newhouse Farm Industrial Estate.
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Now the company, which has seen a 25% year-on-year increase since 2000, with exports doubling in the last 12 months.
Its annual turnover is now £2.5m and its future plans include target the Middle East and the US for its growing exports.
The company has been backed by the Welsh Assembly Government in its expansion.
Mr Battersby said that support had been extremely important in helping the company.
"Our expansion into our new premises - which are three times as large as our previous base - was supported through the Single Investment Fund which has also helped us develop our website, supported our marketing activities and our move into eCommerce," he said.
Innovative products
Reid's systems are often used in places where access is restricted or difficult like the London Underground.
British Waterways use their systems for lifting canal lock gates needing maintenance or repair, cutting a job which takes three and a half days with traditional lifting gear to just half a day with Reid's portable systems.
Ieuan Wyn Jones, Economy Minister, said it was great news to see the company making such strides in difficult trading conditions.
Mr Jones said: "This illustrates once again that companies with innovative products can find new and innovative uses and markets for those products."
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(Source: BBC)