The Nine-Ton Cat: Behind the Scenes at an Art Museum

It's never an ordinary day for art. Hanging on the wall of a large museum like the National Gallery in Washington, a painting cannot know what to expect. One day you might be a famous portrait by Leonardo da Vinci, comfortable in a glass case with admirers all around, and the next you might be carted away for a bath. In a museum, the staff is busy night and day. Guards patrol around the clock to make sure that each work of art is safely in its place. During the day, staff members study works of art, move them from one place to another, and plan shows of paintings and sculpture from around the world. The Nine-Ton Cat takes you along on a day's journey inside the National Gallery, from dawn to dusk, revealing everything from why a museum needs eight hundred keys to how to hoist a nine-ton cat.