Bayeux Tapestry arrives in UK for first time in 900 years under police guard

BBC ^ | July 10 | BBC

[RandFan]

The Bayeux Tapestry has arrived in the UK, for the first time since it is believed to have been created here nearly 1,000 years ago.

At 02:50 BST, chaperoned from a secret location in northern France by a police guard, it was driven into a loading bay at the British Museum, which will put it on display in September.

The 70m-long 11th Century embroidery depicts in 58 scenes events leading up to the Battle of Hastings and Norman Conquest of England in 1066 - the moment that changed the country forever.

The heavy-looking crate, encased in an aluminium frame, was lowered out of the lorry in front of a select crowd including the French ambassador to the UK and the director of the British Museum.

Nick Cullinan, the director of the British Museum, told me: "We've just witnessed something rather extraordinary, which is the arrival of the Bayeux Tapestry at the British Museum but specifically it is returning to England for the first time in almost 1,000 years.

"It feels like a really remarkable thing not just to witness but to be part of, and we're so excited to share it with as many people as possible."

The Bayeux Tapestry is not actually a tapestry at all: it is linen with embroidered pictures of the tussle between William, Duke of Normandy then Conqueror of England, and Harold II, King of England, stitched on in coloured woollen yarn.

An embroidery of immense significance - 58 scenes, 626 characters (but only six women), 202 horses - ships, swords and arrows (including one hitting the soldier believed to be Harold II - although there are questions about whether this was added later).

Horton-Insch said it was a "miracle" that the artwork had survived for more than 900 years.

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TOPICS: Miscellaneous; News/Current Events; United Kingdom
KEYWORDS: bayeuxtapestry

[RandFan]

This thing depicts the last time England was conquered - Almost 1,000 years ago.

[Sirius Lee]

They should create a new tapestry. This time with dark folk in turbans arriving on rubber rafts subduing England with nothing but their boners and occasional knives.

[RandFan]

I should have said “formerly conquered”

[Angelino97]

An embroidery of immense significance - 58 scenes, 626 characters (but only six women)

How many people of color?

[ComputerGuy]

...it was driven into a loading bay at the British Museum, which will put it on display in September...

That gives them plenty of time to lose it.

[jroehl]

It also contains 2 midgets and a Haitian transexual lesbian with a cleft palate and speech impediment.

[bwest]

Bayeux Tapestry? I’d like to see the early depictions of jambalaya, zydeco, and gumbo!

[AnotherUnixGeek]

This time with dark folk in turbans arriving on rubber rafts subduing England with nothing but their boners and occasional knives.

The rape gangs in Britain are Pakistani Muslims - they don't wear turbans. Sikhs - men who do wear turbans - have done far more to stop the rape gangs and rescue young women in the UK than the British police have.

[Celtic Conservative]

Except when they’re stabbing young men who “disrespected” them.

CC

[telescope115]

When I was a much younger age, National Geographic Magazine had an article about the Tapestry. I believe it was the 1960s. I don’t remember much, except that they did show sections of the Tapestry on each page of the article.

I wish I still had all of those NGs.

[Robert DeLong]

70 meteres = 229.6588 feet.

That is one big tapestry, for sure.. Just shy of a football field in lehgth.

[jerod]

(including one hitting the soldier believed to be Harold II - although there are questions about whether this was added later)

If there is one thing I can't stand... It's modern day 'historians' trying to re-write history with their own contrived interpretation of history.

Harold was hit in the eye with an arrow... Period!

And guess what... He was white... He wasn't 'gay'... And he lost the battle of Hastings because he went north first to fight off his brother and and some old Viking king, instead of concentrating on his true threat... William the Duke of Normandy.

[fruser1]

The museum that normally holds it is currently undergoing renovations I think, hence the availability of a traveling exhibition.

Link to museum here with scrollable image of the whole bit:

https://www.bayeuxmuseum.com/en/the-bayeux-tapestry/discover-the-bayeux-tapestry/