Image: A section of the Bayeux Tapestry (CC BY-SA 4.0 LiamGM)
British Museum to display medieval artefact from September 2026 to July 2027 in exchange for Sutton Hoo collection and Lewis Chessmen going to France.
The Bayeux Tapestry will be loaned to the British Museum later this year, as part of a loan swap between France and the UK.
The loan will mark the first time that the medieval tapestry, which chronicles the Norman Conquest of 1066, will be displayed in the UK in nearly 1,000 years.
UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron are expected to announce that the tapestry will come to the UK next year.
The tapestry will be displayed in the The Sainsbury Exhibitions Gallery of the British Museum in London between September 2026 and July 2027, said a government announcement.
The 70 meter tapestry has been displayed at the Bayeux Museum in Normandy for the last 42 years. The tapestry is then to be returned to the Bayeux Museum after a two year refurbishment.
Its loan to the UK has been years in the making. In 2018 then British Prime Minister Theresa May had first suggested its loan could be part of a wider cultural exchange. The loan was, eight years ago, to coincide with Bayeux Museum’s refurbishment, now set to start in September.
In return, the British Museum will loan the Sutton Hoo collection and the Lewis Chessmen to France. Museums in Normandy will host the Sutton Hoo objects while they are in France.
Director of the British Museum Nicholas Cullinan called the Bayeux Tapestry “one of the most important and unique cultural artefacts in the world”.
“This is exactly the kind of international partnership that I want us to champion and take part in: sharing the best of our collection as widely as possible – and in return displaying global treasures never seen here before.”
The loan will form part of a bilateral season of culture in 2027 that will celebrate the 1000th anniversary of the birth of William the Conquerer and the Grand Départ of the 2027 Tour de France from the UK.
In addition, three UK cultural organisations will also be signing Memoranda of Understanding with French counterparts including the National Trust with the Centre des Monuments Nationaux, and Sadler’s Wells with the Chaillot Théâtre National de la Danse.
