Alistair Hardaker | Image: The Bayeux Tapestry Arrival © Trustees of the British Museum
Bayeux Tapestry arrives at the British Museum after a cross-Channel transport operation, ahead of its exhibition opening on 10 September.
The Bayeux Tapestry has arrived at the British Museum following a transport operation arranged over the past year, ahead of its exhibition opening on 10 September.
The museum worked with the French Ministry of Culture, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport and the specialised transport company Hizkia to arrange the move. The 11th-century embroidery was transported overnight from Folkestone to London by the Metropolitan Police Service and Kent Police, having travelled from France.
The British Museum described it as one of the most significant international museum loans undertaken between the two countries. It is the first time the Tapestry has been in the UK in almost 1,000 years.
Over the coming weeks, the Tapestry will undergo condition checks before being installed in a custom showcase ahead of the exhibition opening.
When general admission tickets went on sale last week, the museum recorded the single biggest day of ticket sales in its history, generating more than £2.4 million in the first 24 hours. The museum’s website received almost five times its average daily traffic.
Dr Nicholas Cullinan OBE, Director of the British Museum, said watching the Tapestry arrive at the museum was “a moment I will never forget”.
Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy called the arrival “an historic moment and a significant act of friendship as we welcome this iconic historical tapestry back to Britain for the first time in almost 1,000 years.”
The Bayeux Tapestry exhibition opens to the public on 10 September.
