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The Bayeux Tapestry is about to leave France. This medieval masterpiece, a 70-metre-long embroidery recounting the Norman conquest of England, will be on display at the British Museum in London from September 2026 to July 2027 to mark the 1,000th anniversary of William the Conqueror.
Usually displayed in Bayeux, in northern France, the tapestry has been loaned with the agreement of President Emmanuel Macron as part of celebrations of cross-Channel relations.
French Culture Minister Catherine Pégard hailed “a political, cultural and symbolic act”: “In a world that is fragmenting, that sometimes yields to the temptation of turning in on itself, France remains true to itself and opts for cultural outreach. We choose to affirm that the great democracies and old nations of Europe are destined to enrich each other”, she said.
According to tradition, Matilda of Flanders, wife of King William the Conqueror, is said to have had the tapestry made during his military campaign.
Some experts worry about the potential damage that this 70-metre-long embroidery could suffer; it already bears more than 24 000 stains, 9 000 holes and 30 tears.
The fibres of this thousand-year-old work are extremely fragile. Any change in temperature and humidity levels can cause further tearing. A special case has been designed to ensure the work can be transported and to limit vibrations during the journey.
But Pégard said she found “particularly unfair the insinuations of incompetence that some have tried to spread”.
“Nothing, absolutely nothing, has been left to chance, particularly as regards the transport of this work,” she insisted at a press conference in Paris on Wednesday 3 June.
The Bayeux Tapestry ‘secretly transferred’ to the British Museum
The Bayeux Tapestry will be secretly transported to Britain in a shockproof container so that it can go on display in London this year, the culture minister has announced.
The tapestry will be taken, on a date that will remain secret, to the British Museum in a specially designed case that cushions vibrations, the minister and ministry officials said.
According to a Culture Ministry study published on Wednesday, following a second test carried out in April, the case can absorb 96% of the force of a major impact over the entire journey.
The findings of this study amount to a green light for transporting the tapestry, even if “zero risk does not exist”, the minister noted.
“Never in the history of transporting works of art have so many tests, so many protocols, so many risk checks been carried out for a single move,” said Catherine Pégard, likening the case to “a newborn’s cradle”.
When it returns to France at the end of 2027, the Bayeux Tapestry will undergo a long-planned restoration that had been postponed.
Other medieval works will also be temporarily exchanged between France and the United Kingdom, notably a set of chess pieces and grave goods unearthed at Sutton Hoo.
Video editor • Alexander Kazakevich
Additional sources • AFP