BAYEUX — The Bayeux Tapestry will be loaned to the British Museum for an 18-month exhibition from September 10, 2026, to July 11, 2027. This loan is occurring while its permanent home in Normandy undergoes renovations.
French President Emmanuel Macron proposed in 2025 that the tapestry travel to the U.K. for an 18-month period. The 11th-century embroidery measures 70 meters long and 50 centimeters high, depicting the Norman invasion of England in 1066. The artwork shows King Harold of England with an arrow in his eye in its final scenes.
The tapestry will be transported in a specially constructed cradle within a humidity-controlled container fitted with shock absorbers. French Minister of Culture Catherine Pégard declined to provide specific transport schedule details due to security concerns.
Pégard said, "Nothing has been left to chance. All and any vibration that could pose a risk to the fibres of the tapestry will be absorbed. The container is the result of scientific and technical savoir faire and has been tried and tested." She added, "Never in the history of moving such an object have so many test runs been carried out. Everything has been thought of."
The British Museum plans to display the tapestry flat in one continuous length inside a specially made case. The exhibition will also feature other historical manuscripts and objects alongside the tapestry. In exchange for the loan, British Museum artifacts representing all four U.K. nations, including the Sutton Hoo treasures and Lewis chess pieces, will be sent to museums in Normandy.
The artifact was likely commissioned by Bishop Odo of Bayeux in the 1070s for the city's cathedral and was sewn by English women. The tapestry features 58 scenes embroidered using four stitches and 10 natural dye colors, including 623 human figures, more than 700 animal figures, 37 buildings, and 41 ships.
Lord Peter Ricketts, former British ambassador to France, said, "Yes, of course we will give the tapestry back, safe and sound. And we will entirely guarantee the protection of this precious work for the time it is with us."
Pégard said, "Some people ask if we have the right to move this precious object key to our history and I understand them. For the conservators their first mission is to conserve, but this is a work that lives through the eyes of those who see it." The tapestry was moved to Paris in the winter of 1803 to 1804 by order of Napoleon Bonaparte and later relocated during the Second World War by German forces in France to a repository and later to the Louvre in Paris.