Bayeux Tapestry reaches London for first British display
The medieval work arrived at the British Museum under heavy security and will be shown in London until July 2027.
By Sofia Marchetti · World Affairs Correspondent
3 min read
The Bayeux Tapestry has arrived at the British Museum for its first display in Britain since it was created nearly a millennium ago, according to Al Jazeera, AFP and Reuters. The loan gives British audiences rare access to one of Europe’s best-known medieval works and comes as Britain and France seek warmer ties after Brexit.
The 70-metre embroidery was moved from Bayeux in northwestern France to London in an overnight operation kept quiet for security reasons, according to the report. Details of the 11-hour road journey had been withheld for months, even though the London exhibition had been expected.
George Osborne, chair of the British Museum, said on X that the tapestry had arrived “safely and securely” at the museum. Nicholas Cullinan, the museum’s director, told The Associated Press that the transfer followed extensive planning, care and preparation.
A guarded trip from Normandy
Workers and volunteers prepared the tapestry for travel at the Bayeux Tapestry Museum in Normandy, according to the Associated Press photo caption cited in the report. The work was packed into a climate-controlled case fitted with a shock-absorbing cradle before being carried by a police-escorted truck through the Channel Tunnel.
The tapestry, made from wool thread stitched onto linen, tells the story of the events around the Norman conquest of England. Its 58 scenes show feasts, fleets of Viking-style ships and armed knights, according to the report.
The story ends with the Battle of Hastings in October 1066, when William, Duke of Normandy, defeated the Anglo-Saxon forces of King Harold and became England’s first Norman king. The tapestry has long been treated as a shared emblem of British and French history, including the violence that linked the two countries in the 11th century.
A diplomatic exchange
French President Emmanuel Macron announced the loan last year and described it in The Times as a “tangible expression of long-standing friendship” between France and the United Kingdom. Al Jazeera, AFP and Reuters reported that the loan is viewed as a symbol of improving relations between London and Paris after Britain’s departure from the European Union.
The British Museum will lend France items from the Sutton Hoo collection in return. Those Anglo-Saxon artefacts, from a 7th-century ship burial, are among England’s most important archaeological finds, according to the report.
The exchange also fits with renovation work at the Bayeux museum, where the tapestry is usually held. The British Museum display is scheduled to run until July 2027, and the exhibition has already sold thousands of tickets, according to Al Jazeera, AFP and Reuters.
The Bayeux Tapestry Museum says Bishop Odo of Bayeux, William’s half-brother, commissioned the piece. Women in England, possibly nuns, are believed to have made it before it was taken to France, according to the museum.
This story draws on original reporting from Al Jazeera.