Bayeux Tapestry: Major concerns surrounding the loan of this fragile, thousand-year-old work to the United Kingdom

By acknowledging a loan to the British Museum in September 2026 , the French head of state has prioritized his determination - and the objective of "reviving the cultural relationship" with the United Kingdom - over the warnings concerning 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 transporting it "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 state of the work, which tells the story of the conquest of England in 1066, told AFP. "When you look at it really closely, you can see right through it and you don't want to handle it because you think it's going to stay in your hands," she added.

Until recently, warnings were duly relayed by government services. In 2021, the Normandy Regional Directorate of Cultural Affairs (DRAC) 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.

"Omerta"

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.

"There's a sense of silence," a professional close to the case told AFP, who wished to remain anonymous. Another anonymous source, who works in art restoration, said he was "stunned" that the tapestry's expertise 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 risk 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 Élysée Palace, the person in charge of the tapestry loan is 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 said. Contacted by AFP for more information on this confidential study, the Ministry of Culture did not respond.