France Prepares Bayeux Tapestry for 10 September British Museum Loan
The bayeux tapestry is being prepared for a secret journey across the Channel and is due to go on display at the British Museum on 10 September. Catherine Pégard said the 70-metre embroidery would travel in a specially constructed cradle inside a container, with nothing left to chance.
The tapestry will remain in London until 11 July 2027. The loan follows the closure of its permanent home in Bayeux in Normandy for renovations and the planned completion of a new building dedicated to the artefact.
Catherine Pégard on the transfer
Pégard, France’s minister of culture, said the container would control humidity and that the rails on which the tapestry is hung had been fitted with shock absorbers. She said, "All and any vibration that could pose a risk to the fibres of the tapestry will be absorbed."
She also said, "The container is the result of scientific and technical savoir faire and has been tried and tested" and added, "Never in the history of moving such an object have so many test runs been carried out. Everything has been thought of," as she described the preparations for the move.
She declined to give details of when and how the tapestry would be moved, saying only "for security reasons" at a gathering marking the loan.
British Museum display plan
The British Museum said the tapestry would be shown flat in one continuous length in a specially made case. It said the display would include other works from UK and European institutions, including illustrated manuscripts.
The museum is receiving the tapestry as part of an exchange: treasures from the British Museum, including the Sutton Hoo treasures and the Lewis chess pieces, are to go to museums in Normandy in return.
Ricketts on the return
Lord Peter Ricketts, the former British ambassador to France and UK special envoy, told French politicians, officials and specialists, "Yes, of course we will give the tapestry back, safe and sound," and "And we will entirely guarantee the protection of this precious work for the time it is with us."
The tapestry, which depicts the Norman invasion of England in 1066, has been seldom moved since the middle ages. It was taken to Paris in the winter of 1803-1804 on Napoleon Bonaparte’s orders, and during the second world war France’s German occupiers first moved it by van to a repository and later requisitioned it for the Louvre as allied troops advanced after D-day.
