For the first time in nearly a millennium, the Bayeux Tapestry will return to England thanks to a historic loan agreement between the UK and France. The iconic tapestry depicting the Norman invasion of England and the Battle of Hastings will be loaned to the British Museum in the autumn of 2026. In exchange, the British Museum will loan some of the greatest treasures in its collection, including pieces from the Sutton Hoo ship burial and the Lewis Chessmen, to museums in Normandy.
Woven in around 1077, 11 years after the William, Duke of Normandy, conquered England, the embroidered linen is 224 feet long and 2’4″ high and is believed to have been produced in or around Canterbury. It was commissioned by Odo, Bishop of Bayeux, brother of William, so it moved to Normandy as soon as it was completed.
The multi-colored wool thread embroidery is a unique depiction of 12th century France and England captured in 58 scenes with 626 people, 202 horses and 93 penises. (Duke William’s horse has the largest one.) Scene 57 shows King Harold Godwinson’s death from an arrow in the eye, labelled by the stitched inscription above the scene as “Hic Harold rex interfectus est,” meaning “Here King Harold is killed.”
This is the second attempt to arrange a homecoming for the tapestry. In 2018, France and the UK announced that it would be loaned for a 2022 exhibition, but that plan was scrapped when a three-year study of the Bayeux Tapestry found that it was simply too fragile to move before a comprehensive program of restoration and repair addressed the tens of thousands of points of weakness, including 30 unstabilized tears.
The conservation is now complete and the Bayeux Tapestry is stable enough to cross the Channel once more. It will be at the British Museum for a year while the Bayeaux Museum is closed for renovations.
Nicholas Cullinan, Director of the British Museum, said: ‘The Bayeux Tapestry is one of the most important and unique cultural artefacts in the world, which illustrates the deep ties between Britain and France and has fascinated people across geographies and generations. It is hard to overstate the significance of this extraordinary opportunity of displaying it at the British Museum and we are profoundly grateful to everyone involved. This will be the first time the Bayeux Tapestry has been in the UK since it was made, almost 1,000 years ago. We are also delighted to send treasures from the British Museum representing all four nations of the UK – including Sutton Hoo treasures and the Lewis chess pieces – to France in return.
When visiting the tapestry some years ago there was one outstanding memory. Having worked our way so far round the display we took a seat to rest our weary bones. When we did so, a young lady arrived, bending over and studying the display intently; the outstanding memory is that I’ve never seen shorts so short before or since. History can be fun . . .
93 penises and shorts that are shorter than anyone would believe? What could possibly go wrong here?
Reminds me of my visit to the St. John’s Co-Cathedral in Valetta. An elderly woman was closely inspecting would-be visitors, and beach attire in bright colors were frowned upon. Right in front of me, a couple had been harshly rejected -I do not remember, if they finally were allowed entry.
Myself I had a black polo shirt with –really short– black bathing shorts, but the inspecting lady had been seemingly …well… biased: “You arrre alrright!” 🤣️
Gross. That poor woman.
“…I know that was then, but it could be again, it’s coming home, it’s coming home, it’s coming, tapestry’s coming home” 🎶️ Great to see an exchange at that level, and apparently at least some folks are almost a full Millennium clearly ahead of some others 🙁️
Odo is himself depicted in scene 44 -‘Odo Ep(iscopu)s, Willem, Rotbert’- and in scene 54 in full armor with a club -‘Hic Odo Ep(iscopu)s baculum tenens confortat pueros’ (‘Here, Bishop Odo, while holding a club, gives motivation to the boys).
In summer 1978 we were fortunate enough to see the Bayeux Tapestry in Caen; Calvados. (We tasted the same named liquor as well 🙂
The “Bande dessinée millénaire” was a big experience for us, students from the “east”. Especially for me, a big “Bédéphile”.
Note the stearing oar at the (for this reason) called ‘starboard’ side of the Longboat – and the dragonheads arboring the boats – in spite of the christian bishops’ presence 😁
My wife and I were fortunate to enjoy the Bayeux Tapestry experience when we visited Normandy in connection with the 70th Anniversary of the D-Day landings. Last year we visited the Portsmouth Museum – in connection with the 80th Anniversary of the Normandy Campaign – and had the opportunity to examine the Overlord Embroidery, well worth the visit. These are unique and hope they will be around for at least the next 900 years.