10 fascinating facts about the Bayeux Tapestry – and how to get tickets
As the prized piece of history goes on show at the British Museum in London, here’s everything you need to know about it.
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As the prized piece of history goes on show at the British Museum in London, here’s everything you need to know about it.
The Bayeux Tapestry has come to the UK for the first time in more than 900 years and viewing is now open to the public at London’s British Museum. It will stay there until July next year and tickets are being released in batches with 7.5 million people expected to see it.
Here are ten facts about the legendary work of art.
La Tapisserie de Bayeux, as it’s known in its native country, has a permanent home in a museum in the town of Bayeux in Normandy, attracting 400,000 visitors a year.
The 223-foot-long Bayeux Tapestry is made of dyed wool, which was stitched on to bleached linen. If you want to get technical, it’s an embroidery rather than a tapestry and over the years it’s had a rough time. The treasured work has been hung up by metal loops and at one point it even had nails through it. Although it’s been carefully preserved in recent years, it’s also stained by rust and suspected candle grease.
Over the years, historians couldn’t agree on which side of the Channel the Tapestry was created, but current thinking suggests it was made in England. Its origin has been pinned down to somewhere in Kent, possibly in or around Canterbury.
Although historians think the Tapestry was made by English women, you’d have to be very observant to spot one. In fact, out of more than 600 human figures, there are only three women on the central frieze. As opposed to 35 dogs and 190 horses.
The women who worked on the Tapestry would have been exposed to the horror of war, which is depicted in great detail in the work.
The Tapestry famously illustrates the Battle of Hastings in 1066. While most surviving sources from the time of the Norman Conquest are written, this is the only visual account of this pivotal time in history.
One of the most talked-about aspects of the Bayeux Tapestry is King Harold seemingly being struck in the eye by an arrow, but modern sources suggest he was actually hacked to death.
Halley’s Comet makes an appearance in the Tapestry, supposedly in January 1066, which is slightly inaccurate since it wasn’t actually visible until April that year. Interestingly, the comet is often seen as a signal that disaster was coming.
Nearly 50,000 people signed a petition to try and stop the loan to the British Museum, saying it could damage the fabric of the piece. Fewer people are petitioning to keep the Tapestry in the UK, with the current total at 28.
King Charles was one of the first visitors to the British Museum to see the artwork and he took a moment to celebrate the togetherness of France and the UK. Himself a direct descendant of William, Duke of Normandy, Charles said that it “tells the story of the beginning of what I like to think of as the French side of my family’s history in these islands”.
While the Tapestry spends time in London, France’s Bayeux Museum will undergo renovations. The work of art receives careful attention, with ten-year monitoring and studies on the effect of light and dust on its condition.
Moving the Tapestry took months of planning and it was transported in a crate with carefully controlled temperature and humidity. Shock absorbers protected it from any bumps on the way and a police escort accompanied it into London in a late-night mission.
Mark your calendars: although tickets are sold out until December, the next general release is on 21 October, when you can book for January to March 2027. Another booking window opens in January for April to July 2027.
Priority booking for British Museum members reopens on 6 October.
Find out more and book on the British Museum website.
If you want to find out more about the treasure, a stellar cast of historians and experts tell its story in a special programme to commemorate its visit to the UK.
Secrets of the Bayeux Tapestry: Inside the Museum is on BBC Two at 10pm and available to watch on iPlayer.
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