This paper describes methods of observation and investigation for structural stabilisation of a copper alloy image of the Hindu god Shiva as Nataraja on open display in the St. Mungos Museum of Religious Life and Art, Glasgow. After an act of vandalism left the sculpture structurally unstable, a temporary solution of placing a glass screen in front of the object as a safety precaution evolved into a permanent restriction of access hindering maintenance and diminishing appreciation of the object in ethnographical, iconographical and aesthetical terms. This paper summarises methods, results and discussion of the structural stabilisation as part of a conservation programme for the Shiva as Nataraja.