A scene on the Bayeux Tapestry depicts horsemen and Mont Saint-Michel, believed to be one of the earliest-known visual representations of the French landmark.ARDEE NAPOLITANO/Reuters
French President Emmanuel Macron hoped to score a diplomatic coup when he announced during a state visit to Britain in July that France would loan the iconic Bayeux Tapestry to the British Museum.
But instead of winning plaudits, he has faced a flurry of outrage from art experts and conservators who say the work is too fragile to be shipped back and forth across the English Channel.
The 1,000-year-old embroidered linen is among the best-known pieces of art in the world and it’s deeply ingrained in the histories of both countries. Stretching 68 metres, the tapestry depicts a turning point in European history when William, the Duke of Normandy, conquered King Harold II of England at the Battle of Hastings in 1066.
Mr. Macron hailed the loan as a sign of the warming relations between the two countries, post-Brexit.
An online petition calling for the tapestry to stay put has garnered nearly 70,000 signatures and critics have labelled Mr. Macron’s offer a “crime against French heritage.”
“It should not be moved,” said Didier Rykner, an art historian based in Paris who launched the petition, in an interview. “I have asked all the specialists who know the tapestry – the curators, the restorers – they all said the same thing: It is not possible to move it.”
The tapestry is displayed at the Bayeux Museum during its final days before the museum closes for renovations.ARDEE NAPOLITANO/Reuters
The tapestry is housed in special casing at the Bayeux Museum in Normandy, where it attracts more than 400,000 visitors annually. The museum closed on Sept. 1 for a two-year renovation that includes a new exhibition space for the tapestry, which is believed to have been woven by English nuns at the end of the 11th century to honour William’s victory. It features 58 scenes, 626 characters and 202 horses.
Under Mr. Macron’s plan, the tapestry would be displayed at the British Museum from September, 2026, to July, 2027. In return, the British Museum would lend several pieces to French museums, including a collection of Anglo-Saxon relics dating back to 600 AD.
This isn’t the first time Mr. Macron has offered to loan out the tapestry. He made a similar proposal in 2018 to then-British Prime Minister Theresa May. However, the deal fell through over concerns about the condition of the work.
A study in 2020 by eight conservators found numerous signs of wear and tear in the tapestry. The analysis uncovered 24,204 stains, 16,445 wrinkles, 9,646 gaps in the cloth or the embroidery, and 30 tears.
According to the French newspaper Le Monde, a confidential restoration report compiled in 2022 said that any long-distance transport beyond one hour was “strongly inadvisable” because it would expose the tapestry to “additional risks due to its dimensions, structure and mechanical fragility.”
Isabelle Attard, a former director of the Bayeux Museum, told The Art Newspaper recently that any transport was too risky. “Its value is incalculable and if anything happens to it no amount of money and no other similar object can replace it,” she said.
The tapestry has been moved only a handful of times. Napoleon Bonaparte shipped it to Paris from Normandy for a few days in 1804 over fears of an English invasion. During the Second World War, Nazi researchers stored it in a museum in France’s western Sarthe region before moving it to the Louvre in 1944 as allied troops advanced through northern France. It was returned to the Bayeux Museum in 1945.
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Mr. Macron hinted at the debate over moving the tapestry when he made his announcement in July. “I have to confess, we did our best not to be put in this situation to make the loan of the Bayeux tapestry,” he said. “And we found the best experts of the world to explain in perfect detail why it was impossible to make such a loan. And believe me, we found them, and believe me, we could have found them again.”
However, Mr. Macron and other French officials have insisted that shipping the tapestry to London is now feasible. They noted that the Bayeux Museum has put plans in place to package and move it into storage for the duration of the renovation. “We have developed engineering solutions for its delicate handling,” the museum said in a statement, but did not detail those solutions.
Philippe Bélaval, Mr. Macron’s special adviser on the project, has told reporters recently that the tapestry is “absolutely not untransportable” and he cited a confidential report outlining how it could be done. “The Ministry of Culture is conducting a further study on the tapestry’s resistance to vibrations and the possibility of eliminating them during transport to ensure safe transportation,” he added.
Hervé Morin, president of the Normandy Regional council, the executive body of the region, has also welcomed the loan agreement and said it will strengthen ties between France and Britain. “This is a unique and historic opportunity to introduce or reintroduce this gem to our British friends and neighbours,” he said in a statement.
The region has another motivation. It is planning a major celebration in 2027 to mark the 1,000th anniversary of William’s birth and it’s hoping to attract visitors from the lands where the Normans left their mark – Britain, Denmark, Ireland, Norway and southern Italy.
