Overview

• The 11th-century embroidery was removed from its Bayeux museum and reached a secure storage site late Friday, the Calvados prefecture said.
• Local reports identify the storage location as the Baron Gérard Museum a short distance away, where the piece will stay before its cross-Channel transfer.
• Authorities kept the operation confidential and deployed plainclothes police as more than 90 specialists crated the work and loaded it into a refrigerated lorry in a seven-hour procedure.
• The display in London is scheduled to start in September 2026 for nine months as part of a Franco‑British exchange that includes UK loans of the Sutton Hoo collection and the Lewis Chessmen to Normandy.
• Opposition from heritage advocates persists, with a petition surpassing 73,000 signatures and prior conservation records noting over 24,000 stains, nearly 10,000 holes, and dozens of tears.