The Bayeux Tapestry, depicting the Norman conquest of England, is returning to the UK for the first time in more than 900 years.
The 11th-century masterpiece is being loaned from France and will arrive next year at the British Museum.
It will feature in an exhibition from September 2026 to July 2027.
The details were released as President Emmanuel Macron began a state visit on Tuesday. Talks about a potential loan had begun as early as 2018.
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The fragile 70 metre (230ft) cloth depicts the events leading up to the conquest of England by William the Conqueror in 1066 and the Battle of Hastings.
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That confrontation was between the Earl of Wessex, Harold Godwinson, who had been crowned King of England after the death of his brother-in-law Edward the Confessor, and Duke William of Normandy, who believed he was the rightful claimant to the throne.
The artwork was believed to have been commissioned by Bishop Odo of Bayeux and has been displayed in various locations across France, including most recently at the Bayeux Museum in Normandy.
In exchange for the tapestry, France will receive artefacts from the British Museum’s Sutton Hoo collection – which features items from a 7th-century Anglo-Saxon ship burial – and Viking treasures.
Other items to be loaned to France include the Lewis Chessmen, the mysterious medieval chess pieces carved from walrus tusks and whales’ teeth dating from around the 12th century that were discovered on the Isle of Lewis.
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“The Bayeux Tapestry is one of the most iconic pieces of art ever produced in the UK and I am delighted that we will be able to welcome it here in 2026,” Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy said in a statement.
“This loan is a symbol of our shared history with our friends in France, a relationship built over centuries and one that continues to endure,” she added.
