"We see through it": puzzles and concerns surrounding the loan of the Bayeux Tapestry to the United Kingdom

A 70-meter-long puzzle: promised in July by Emmanuel Macron, the loan to the United Kingdom of the Bayeux Tapestry continues to make waves and fuel fears of deterioration of this thousand-year-old masterpiece, classified by UNESCO.

By signing off on a loan to the British Museum in September 2026, the French head of state has prioritized his determination - and the goal of "reviving the cultural relationship" with the United Kingdom - over warnings about the transport of this 11th-century embroidery.

Since 2020, expert reports have meticulously x-rayed the damage that is already weakening the 70-meter-long tapestry (24,204 stains, 9,646 holes, 30 tears, etc.) or warned of the "additional risks" that transport "beyond an hour's journey" would pose.

"The tapestry is extremely fragile and worn," Aude Radosevic Mansouri, who led a team of seven restorers in 2020-21 to assess the condition of the work, which tells the story of the conquest of England in 1066, told AFP.

"When you look at it really closely, you see through it and you don't want to handle it because you think it's going to stay in your hands," she adds.

Until recently, warnings were duly relayed by state services.

In 2021, the Regional Directorate of Cultural Affairs (DRAC) of Normandy assured AFP that "the work was not transportable before being restored."

Its two-year renovation was scheduled for 2025 but has been postponed indefinitely this year. However, in the coming days, the tapestry, listed on UNESCO's "Memory of the World" register, is to be folded up as part of expansion work at the museum where it is usually exhibited in Bayeux.

Very recently, in a video posted at the beginning of 2025 by the Calvados prefecture, a heritage advisor from the Drac assured that the tapestry was "too fragile to be moved over a great distance", in particular due to the vibrations caused by the journey.

Since Emmanuel Macron's announcement, however, the video has been removed from YouTube and the institutions have remained silent: the prefecture, the Bayeux museum, the Drac (Regional Directorate of Culture) and the town hall have not responded to AFP's requests.

"We sense a sense of silence," a professional close to the case, who wishes to remain anonymous, told AFP.

Another anonymous source, who works in art restoration, said he was "stunned" that the expertise on the tapestry had been dismissed "out of hand for diplomatic reasons."

His concern is not isolated.

More than 71,000 people have signed a petition calling the loan a "heritage crime." "It is unacceptable to take the risk of damaging this absolutely unique work," denounced its initiator, Didier Rykner, editorial director of the website La Tribune de l'Art.

"Any damage would be irreversible," warns Aude Radosevic Mansouri.

At the Elysée Palace, the person in charge of the loan of the tapestry wants to be reassuring.

"It's my role to convince people that the tapestry can be moved safely so that it can be presented to the British public and become widely known abroad," Philippe Bélaval told AFP.

According to the senior official, a study conducted in early 2025 by the Ministry of Culture has already listed recommendations for the "long-term" transport of the tapestry. "The question of a possible loan to Great Britain was then beginning to arise," he says.

Contacted by AFP for more information on this confidential study, the Ministry of Culture did not respond.

Despite the opposition, the process is continuing.

A call for tenders has just been launched to carry out a "trial trip" to the United Kingdom and test "anti-vibration solutions", in addition to earlier studies which envisaged moving the tapestry within a radius of around one hundred meters for renovation purposes.

However, one of the professionals interviewed by AFP assures us: "There will be no solutions without risks."

.