Bayeux Tapestry: Online petition against loan to British Museum gathers 45,000 signatures

"This loan would be a true heritage crime." A petition against the loan of the Bayeux Tapestry to the British Museum in London had nearly 45,000 signatures as of Wednesday, August 20. Posted online on July 13, just days after Emmanuel Macron announced the work's exchange, the petition "solemnly requests the President of the Republic to abandon this project." The reason for this is concerns about the tapestry's conservation and relocation.

"The Bayeux Tapestry dates from the end of the 11th century. It is therefore almost a millennium old," we can read on the website change.org , at the initiative of Didier Rykner, editor-in-chief of the online magazine La Tribune de l'Art . Contacted by AFP, he considered that the tapestry was "far too fragile to be transported without great risk." "Tapestry specialists, restorers who work on it and conservators say that there is a risk of tears, of material falling out, due to handling and vibrations during its transport," he recalled. "It is unacceptable, " he said, "to take the risk that this absolutely unique work will be damaged."

The Bayeux Tapestry, exhibited at the museum in the town of the same name in Normandy, is actually an "embroidered story" on a 70-meter-long linen canvas. It tells the story of the conquest of England in 1066 by William, Duke of Normandy, who later became William the Conqueror.

In a video posted on YouTube by the Calvados prefecture in February 2025, Cécile Binet, museum advisor to the Drac of Normandy, also stated that the tapestry was "too fragile to be moved over a great distance" and that "any further handling" was "a risk to its conservation" . A few weeks after these statements, the decision was made to send it to London : "It makes no sense, it's purely political and diplomatic," judged Didier Rykner. Emmanuel Macron announced on July 8 the loan of the work to the British Museum from September 2026 to June 2027 in exchange for medieval pieces from the Sutton Hoo archaeological treasure.

According to sources confirming AFP, a feasibility study for transporting the Bayeux Tapestry to London was carried out by restorers in March 2022. "They refuse to share this study with me; it remains confidential," Didier Rykner said angrily. "The Ministry of Culture says there have been studies that have shown the work is transportable. Show them to us; I'd love to see them!" Contacted by AFP, neither the Drac of Normandy, nor the Ministry of Culture, nor the restorers had responded as of Wednesday afternoon.