Bayeux tapestry move ‘at risk’ due to UK potholes

The Bayeux tapestry’s high-profile loan to the British Museum risks damaging the ancient relic because of the condition of Britain’s roads, according to reports.

French conservationists have filed a legal challenge to plans championed by Emmanuel Macron to transport the priceless 11th-century work from Bayeux in Normandy, France, where it has been on display for many centuries, to be shown at the British Museum as part of a nine-month exhibition.

In the documents seen by The Telegraph, the conservationists reportedly warn specifically about the “vibrations and shocks” that the fragile relic will face on the journey to London.

Experts from French heritage group Sites and Monuments said jolts and bumps in the roads, including potholes, could generate vibrations that risk ripping the cloth apart, according to the report. They also warn the French president made an “error of judgement” in his decision to transport the tapestry to the UK, citing a 2022 report that named “breaks in the load, a defect on a road (sudden change in level, hole in the surface, etcetera)” as “examples of shock sources” that could risk damage to the work.

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The group’s president said: “If [the roads] are in poor condition, that is obviously not a good thing.”

He added: “The risks are those associated with handling the tapestry and the vibrations during a long journey. They must be limited to the bare minimum.”

The 70-metre-long medieval relic is said to be insured for £800m by the UK government for the duration of the loan. But its movement has garnered concern from art critics and conservationists over the tapestry’s fragile state.

David Hockney, one of the UK’s greatest painters, has previously slammed plans to move the fragile, 1,000-year-old artefact as “madness” and “too big a risk” to take.

“Why does a London museum which prides itself on conserving and preserving great art want to gamble on the survival of the most important art image of scale in Europe?” he asked. “It is madness. I am not afraid to speak up for art. It is something that has defined my life for more than eight decades.”

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Writing exclusively in The Independent, he warned that any movement of the relic’s wool embroidery threads puts it in danger of “tearing, stitch loss and distortion of the fabric”.

A petition started in August by art historian Didier Rykner protesting the decision to move it to the UK has garnered more than 77,000 signatories.

At the time, the British Museum said its conservation and collections management team was experienced at handling and caring for this type of material and was working with colleagues in France on the tapestry’s display.