'Nothing left to chance' for Bayeux Tapestry's journey to London

The 950-year-old Bayeux-tapestry" class="entity-link entity-organization" data-entity-id="47669" data-entity-type="organization">Bayeux Tapestry will be as safe "as a baby" when it makes its unprecedented journey to London next month, according to French officials.The tapestry will be leaving Bayeux for only the third time in its history before being put on display for nine months at the British Museum.Serious reservations about the journey have been raised by many in France's art world, who say the tapestry is too fragile and too important to move.But after two dry-runs with facsimiles, the culture ministry in Paris is confident the technical difficulties have been overcome."I am extremely serene," said Delphine Christophe, the ministry's head of heritage and architecture. "Nothing has been left to chance."To preserve it from possible damage, the 70m (230ft) tapestry will be placed in a kind of double crate – a case inside a shell.Last September, 90 people were required to lift the artefact from its display in Bayeux and place it on a folding stand. This is currently at an undisclosed location somewhere in or near Bayeux.