Overview

• French art historian Didier Rykner’s Change.org appeal, launched in July, has drawn roughly 50,000 signatories against sending the tapestry to London.
• Conservation voices, including former Bayeux Museum director Isabelle Attard, warn the embroidery is extremely fragile and should not be transported, with Rykner citing restorers who say a long move would be too risky.
• A 2021 assessment previously found the work too fragile to travel, a finding critics now point to as grounds to halt the loan.
• The loan was announced last month by President Emmanuel Macron and Prime Minister Keir Starmer, with plans for display at the British Museum from September 2026 to July 2027.
• British Museum director Nicholas Cullinan backs the exchange, which includes reciprocal loans of Anglo-Saxon and medieval objects to France during the Bayeux museum’s closure for refurbishment.