Brazil sends art to US despite fears

The Guggenheim hosts many famous collections

The president of Brazil has intervened in a dispute about sending a work of art to New York after it was feared it could be damaged if there were further attacks.

Brazil will now send the piece to the Guggenheim Museum after the president persuaded judges to rule in favour of it travelling abroad.

Brazil had made a commitment to deliver and its word was at stake

Culture secretary

A court injunction had delayed the shipment of the first half of a 45ft 18th Century baroque altarpiece, the centrepiece of the Brazil: Body and Soul exhibition at the world-famous museum.

Two court rulings had determined it should stay in Brazil because of the risk it could be damaged.

"President Fernando Henrique Cardoso and the culture minister had to intervene because they realized that Brazil had made a commitment to deliver and its word was at stake," said Roberto Peixe, the cultural secretary of the north eastern city of Recife.

Gold-covered

Mr Peixe, one of the organisers of the exhibition, added: "The altar is the soul of the exhibition and we all realized it couldn't happen without the piece."

The non-profit group BrasilConnects and Brazilian culture officials organised the exhibition with the Guggenheim Museum.

President Fernando Henrique Cardoso did not want his country to lose face

The object is from the Monastery of Sao Bento in the colonial town of Olinda.

After Mr Cardoso's intervention, a federal court overruled the injunction, smoothing the way for the gold-covered altarpiece to leave the country.

The opening date for the exhibition has already been put back because of the terror attacks and is now scheduled for 19 October.

Around 400 pieces ranging from 17th and 18th Century masterpieces to modern and contemporary art will be on display.

The exhibition will travel on to the Guggenheim in Bilbao, Spain.