[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/1280px-Bayeux_Tapestry_32-33_comet_Halley_Harold.jpg?w=1024″]<\/p>\n
\n\tCueing a collective sigh of relief on both sides of the English Channel, the millennium-old Bayeux Tapestry was not damaged during its contested voyage from France to London\u2019s British Museum, according to French culture ministry officials, speaking to AFP<\/em> on Thursday. \u00a0<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cI am able to confirm that there was no visible alteration and that the tapestry traveled well,\u201d said Delphine Christophe, France\u2019s general director of heritage and architecture, speaking Thursday, July 16, after the medieval tapestry was unpacked for the first time since its historic arrival in England on July 10, where it is being loaned in a diplomatic gesture of goodwill from France.<\/p>\n \n\tThe tapestry was boxed in a suspended casing designed to reduce shock waves during its secret, meticulously planned transport by truck from Normandy, and it was only removed yesterday to allow the linen and wool weave to acclimate. Indeed, the nearly 1000-year-old tapestry is so delicate and carries pre-existing damage from having survived wars, dodgy exhibition methods, and restoration efforts, that in many places, it is literally hanging by a thread.<\/p>\n \n\tAt some point on Friday, the tapestry was due to be unfurled on a very long table with the help of 100 members of staff. Then, France\u2019s culture minister, Catherine P\u00e9gard, was scheduled to see it. \u201cI don\u2019t know her, she\u2019s new, but I expect she\u2019s formidable. All French culture ministers are,\u201d quipped George Osborne, British Museum chairman, speaking at a boardroom at the British Museum yesterday, prior to its unpacking, reported the Times of London<\/em>. He added that \u201cFrench colleagues\u201d have been involved with every stage of the relic\u2019s transfer, before its public display in the British Museum starting in September.<\/p>\n \n\tMany in France and elsewhere have objected to the tapestry\u2019s removal from the Mus\u00e9e de la Tapisserie de Bayeux in Normandy, where it has been exhibited since 1983. However, their arguments were overruled by subsequent expert studies and a ruling by France\u2019s highest administrative court, the Conseil d\u2019Etat.<\/p>\n \n\tThe incomplete, 70-meter-long embroidered artwork, which depicts events leading up to the Battle of Hastings and the 1066 Norman Conquest of England, is thought to have been made in Canterbury, England, and possibly brought to Bayeux in France soon afterward. The first known mention of it is in the 15th century, as part of the Bayeux Cathedral\u2019s long-held inventory.<\/p>\n \n\tBarring its creation, the tapestry, which narrates a moment in English history that forever changed the country\u2019s language, culture, and legal system, had not been back in the UK until this month, underscoring the historic nature of the loan.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cAs far as Britain\u2019s history is concerned, what other exhibition could be as significant?\u201d Osborne asked at the same boardroom meeting. \u201cMagna Carta is just a document. Stonehenge isn\u2019t leaving Wiltshire any time soon. I think there will be a tremendous wow factor when people see the tapestry.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tThat brings us to the next big challenge: getting hold of tickets. Osborne said that up to a million people are expected to visit the tapestry over the 10 months it is on view at the British Museum. The first 100,000 tickets were sold in a flash, but the museum says more batches will go on sale progressively, so stay tuned.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n [analyse_source url=”https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/art-news\/news\/french-confirm-bayeux-tapestry-undamaged-transfer-british-museum-1234792730\/”]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" [analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/1280px-Bayeux_Tapestry_32-33_comet_Halley_Harold.jpg?w=1024″] Cueing a collective sigh of relief on both sides of the English Channel, the millennium-old Bayeux Tapestry was not damaged during its contested voyage from France to London\u2019s British Museum, according to French culture ministry officials, speaking to AFP on Thursday. \u00a0 \u201cI am able to confirm that there was no visible […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[61,226],"class_list":["post-2049396","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-artnews-com","tag-crawlmanager"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2049396","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2049396"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2049396\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2049396"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2049396"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2049396"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}