French art historians try to stop the Beyeks tapestry from moving to London
Nearly 50,000 people have signed a petition to prevent Bayeux tapestries from being loaned to the British Museum in London. The appeal, initiated in July by French art historian Didier Rykner, citing warnings from textile restorators who say transporting 1,000-year-old tapestries could damage the fabrics of their embroidered linens.
The work is scheduled to be exhibited at the British Museum from September 2026 to July 2027, while its house, the Bayeux Tapestry Museum in Normandy, has been renovated. The loan was announced last month by British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron.
Rykner told Art newspaper Although the number of signatures on the petition is not enough to prevent loans, he said: “We have a year on hand and we still have time.”
He has experience in rallying to support cultural projects; he previously initiated a petition to prevent Macron from deciding on the decision to commission contemporary stained glass windows in the six churches of Notre Dame Cathedral restored in Paris. Despite 294,000 signatures, the petition was unsuccessful and the 19th-century window of Eugène Viollet Le Duc will be replaced.
However, Rykner’s recent greed has resonated with famous French cultural figures, many saying they are against tapestries.
“I don’t think tapestries can be transported for several reasons: its value is immeasurable, if anything happens, no money, no other similar object can replace it.” Tan. “It is [also] Due to age, the movements of centuries have been very fragile, and since its return to Bayeux after World War II, it has been illuminated almost constantly, and its presentation, sewn on textile support hanging on small roller bearings, creating tension. ”
The British throughout the channel also expressed their concerns.
“What is particularly concerned with the action art works is that they are so fragile in nature and are vulnerable to any possible or possible misfortune – knocking on doors, vibrations, being discarded, fluctuations in temperature and humidity, and so on, even lost when sent out on water,” Michael Daley telegraph.
Rykner, editor of online art magazines la tribune de l’Art,Tell Sepia He hopes to unite the dissatisfied voices of France and Britain to stop the exchange. The agreement will also include Anglo-Saxon and medieval objects moving in the opposite direction by the British Musuem.
The petition lashes out the loan for “crimes against French heritage.”
Macron first announced plans to borrow in 2018, a gesture that explicitly aims to symbolize the ongoing link between Britain and France after Brexit. At the time, Macron said the tapestries would travel to the UK in 2022.
But in 2021, a report found that tapestries were too fragile to travel, causing significant setbacks to loans. Then, in 2022, it seems like the loan may happen again, with the Victoria and Albert Museum receiving scholarships, which could have allowed London institutions to eventually showcase tapestries. However, no London Times One reveals V&A scholarship work.
“This is exactly the international partnership I want us to advocate and participate in: sharing the best collections in our collection as widely as possible – in return, global audiences who have never seen in London have never seen the world’s global treasures.”
