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# The Shadowy World of Art in Tax-free Ports
- URL: https://hyperallergic.com/the-shadowy-world-of-art-in-tax-free-ports/
- Published: 2012-05-24T13:31:13.000Z
- Updated: 2025-11-24T16:46:04.000Z
- Description: "The majority of the world’s art that is not on display, either in museums or private residences, is stored in a small number of tax-free ports across the globe, mainly in Switzerland."
- Author: Hrag Vartanian
- Tags: Opinion, The 1%, #wp, #wp-post, #image-position-hidden, #Import 2025-11-24 06:51 (2012, 2013, part 1)

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2012/05/tax-free-ports-home.jpg "tax-free-ports-HOME")

This is probably something you didn’t know about and should. This report via [CNBC](http://www.cnbc.com/id/47508377/page/2/?ref=hyperallergic.com):

> “The majority of the world’s art that is not on display, either in museums or private residences, is stored in a small number of tax-free ports across the globe, mainly in Switzerland.  
>  
> Each of the main ports is thought to house an average of $10 billion of art …  
>  
> Despite high-security warehousing, there is just too much value and too few insurers. They simply would not have enough funds to pay out in the event of a catastrophe. This has led insurers to think the unthinkable – and to start preparing to protect themselves against the worst possible scenario. What if an aircraft crashed into one of the free port warehouses adjacent to an airport?  
>  
> Everybody thought putting art into storage \[offered\] great security, \[but\] in fact, it was the exact opposite. There’s not one insurer that will take on new business in a free port now. They’ve got too much art there and they don’t have enough reserves.”

How large are these tax-free ports? The one in Geneva “spans an area equivalent to 22 football pitches.” And if the name of these ports doesn’t make their main benefit obvious enough, I wanted to highlight why they are so attractive. The main advantage of the free ports is that “art transactions can occur there tax-free.”

*Original image via* [*asia.si.edu*](http://www.asia.si.edu/visit/?ref=hyperallergic.com) *— h/t Henry Chalian*