The Bayeux Tapestry has returned to the British Museum for public display in the UK for the first time since it was created nearly 10,000 years ago.
This is not just an exhibition. The Bayeux Tapestry’s mania took over Britons as people were queuing outside the Museum to see the 70-meter-long masterpiece. More than 100,000 tickets were already sold in the week.
The iconic tapestry is borrowed by France after years of diplomacy. Eventually, France gave greenlight to give this tapestry to Britain on loan, demonstrating as a symbol of close ties between Paris and London.
It is reported that this is the first time tapestry has gone on display outside France.
British Prime Minister Andy Burnham described the loan of the ancient tapestry as a “return,” while King Charles III praised the agreement as a “precious symbol of trust at a time when trust seems sadly to be in short supply between nations.”
Crafted in England nearly a millennium ago, the historic artwork ultimately settled in Bayeux, situated in the Normandy region of modern-day France.
Previously, the UK attempted two times in 1953 and later in 1966 to loan the Bayeux Tapestry but they proved unsuccessful.
“I was absolutely blown away by it,” one of the first people to see it in the British Museum says. Others say it gave them “goosebumps”
The Bayeux Tapestry is a 70-meter long artwork, which is thought to be incomplete, depicting the Norman conquest of England in 1066.
The Bayeux Tapestry is currently on display at the British Museum in London, and the exhibition runs until July 11, 2027.
