A French official overseeing the loan of the Bayeux Tapestry to the UK said on Friday, August 22, that the artefact was not too fragile to transport, defending the move from increasingly sharp criticism.
French President Emmanuel Macron agreed to loan the medieval tapestry − which records the 1066 Norman conquest of Anglo-Saxon England − to the British Museum next year to celebrate Franco-British relations.
But critics have said the move risked causing damage to the priceless object and a petition posted online on change.org calling on Macron to stop a "true heritage crime" had garnered more than 52,000 signatures by Friday.
Philippe Belaval, appointed by Macron as his envoy for the loan, said no decision had yet been taken on how to transport the tapestry. But he said a study dating from early 2025 had made detailed recommendations about handling and transport.
"This study absolutely does not state that this tapestry is untransportable," Belaval said, without revealing the authors of the study or their conclusions. Neither the ministry of culture nor the culture authorities in Normandy responded to AFP's questions regarding the various assessments of the tapestry.
Cécile Binet, a regional museum adviser for Normandy, said in a YouTube post in February 2025 that the tapestry was "too fragile" to be moved long distances. She said any further handling would be a "a risk to its conservation."
A feasibility study for the transport of the Bayeux Tapestry to London, completed by three experts in March 2022, remains "confidential" at the request of the Normandy cultural authorities which commissioned it.
"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 transport," said Belaval.
The tapestry's loan will mark the first time in its almost 1,000-year lifetime that the 68-meter-long piece, which dates from around 1077, will be on British soil.
It will be loaned to the British Museum for 10 months from September 2026. French museums will in exchange be loaned ancient treasures mainly from the Anglo-Saxon Sutton Hoo site, one of England's most important archeological locations.