Bayeux in Britain: How France Said Yes to Landmark Loan of Tapestry

When, in 2018, Emmanuel Macron proposed the loan of the Bayeux Tapestry to Britain, an army of conservationists and experts rose up to explain why the almost 1,000-year-old treasure was too fragile to be moved.

- Kim Willsher

Antoine Verney, the chief curator of the Bayeux Museum, said the tapestry that depicted the Norman conquest of England in 1066 was in such a bad state he "couldn't conceive" of it going anywhere. Even slightly moving the embroidered cloth for an inspection, he later said, was "hair-raising" and required a team of 50. His verdict on the proposal was echoed by Frédérique Boura, a Normandy cultural official. "The work is tired, worn and fragile," she said. "It cannot be transported."

Seven years later, the mood music is very different. This week, Macron and Keir Starmer signed a landmark loan agreement during the French president's state visit to Britain.

Under the deal, the almost 70-metre-long (230ft) and 50cm-high tapestry will travel to the British Museum next year, in exchange for the Anglo-Saxon treasures of the Sutton Hoo ship burial, the Lewis chessmen and other artifacts going to France.

The shift in tone may seem stark, but the Bayeux Museum said it had carried out tests—including a dress rehearsal with a model—which persuaded its experts that the tapestry could be sent to the UK without excessive damage.