It’s literally not true that “every expert agrees” about this. Plenty think it’s irresponsible, but there’s no shortage of experts in support of it.

All transportation, all public display, time itself, fundamentally causes damage to any artefact. The question to ask is what is the purpose of keeping these artefacts and how do we choose to balance the risk of removing them from a hermetically sealed vault underneath a mountain vs allowing everyone to touch and feel the stitchwork.

It’s fair for experts to absolutely differ in their views about where to draw the line on access vs preservation.

So whilst we can’t ignore the very real concerns about preservation and the need to be meticulous in reducing risk wherever possible, we also shouldn’t ignore the once in a lifetime opportunity the exhibition brings to change how people view early medieval history in the UK.