The wild story behind the Bayeux Tapestry's meticulous journey from France to London
An £800 million risk
Perhaps the most important London exhibition of the year is the Bayeux tapestry showing at the British Museum.
It opens in September, but the most important precursor milestone has just been passed: The Bayeux Tapestry itself turning up in the UK. It's in the British Museum right now.
The tapestry arrived at the tail end of last week, its transfer confirmed by the British Museum on 10th July.
It was transported using the Channel Tunnel, and was of course given a police escort for the journey.
The tapestry arrived at the British Museum at 2:48am according to the museum, where it was taken out of its transporter lorry to a crowd that included the French ambassador and museum director Nicholas Cullinan.
Priceless packing
It was of course not just shoved in the back of a lorry like removal men packing up your old living room rug. The Bayeux tapestry was stored for the journey in a folding metal contraption that arranges the artefact into an accordion-like sandwich, helping to avoid any damage from travel vibrations — which were limited to 2mm per second as part of the plan to get the tapestry to England safely.
How you do that in practice when moving the thing by lorry still remains a mystery to us.
The transport of the relic was celebrated with a tapestry graphic, projected onto the white cliffs of Dover, which of course are nearby the route of the Channel Tunnel.
It took 90 workers seven hours to pack the Bayeux Tapestry up. And the transfer process was actually attempted twice with a placeholder rug rather than the real deal beforehand.
The UK Treasury insured the tapestry for £800 million, intended to cover any mishaps during its travels or while the exhibition is on. And while that is of course a fortune, some art historians reportedly criticised the cover — for the amount as well as the terms involved.
This is the first time the Bayeux Tapestry has been in England for more than a thousand years, despite having made here, as per the consensus of today’s historians.
Talks to make the upcoming Bayeux Tapestry exhibition actually happen have been happening for almost a decade now. And they have finally come to a head.
The British Museum’s exhibition opens on 10th September. And while it runs all the way until 11th July 2027, you will have to be quick off the mark to be in with a chance of seeing it.
A first wave of tickets, covering dates up until the end of 2026, sold out within 24 hours. The British Museum offers a sign-up page for those wanting updates on the next tranche. But for the earliest access you’ll need to be a member — memberships start at £82 a year.
Members’ booking restarts in October, for visit dates in January to March, while the final set of tickets for dates from April to July, go on sale in January. General sale will be some time after the members’ booking window.
Members can book up to two visits to the exhibition. And given adult tickets start at £25, or £33 during peak times, a membership may sound pretty attractive right now for the history buffs out there.
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