diff --git a/pageserver/src/tenant.rs b/pageserver/src/tenant.rs
index 39464f4b3e..bb5a4525b6 100644
--- a/pageserver/src/tenant.rs
+++ b/pageserver/src/tenant.rs
@@ -794,10 +794,6 @@ impl Tenant {
             }
         }
 
-        if timeline_ancestors.is_empty() {
-            anyhow::bail!("no valid timelines found on the remote storage")
-        }
-
         // For every timeline, download the metadata file, scan the local directory,
         // and build a layer map that contains an entry for each remote and local
         // layer file.
diff --git a/pageserver/src/tenant/remote_timeline_client/download.rs b/pageserver/src/tenant/remote_timeline_client/download.rs
index ef8d217be4..cb52c0bf84 100644
--- a/pageserver/src/tenant/remote_timeline_client/download.rs
+++ b/pageserver/src/tenant/remote_timeline_client/download.rs
@@ -183,10 +183,6 @@ pub async fn list_remote_timelines(
     )
     .await?;
 
-    if timelines.is_empty() {
-        anyhow::bail!("no timelines found on the remote storage")
-    }
-
     let mut timeline_ids = HashSet::new();
 
     for timeline_remote_storage_key in timelines {