The 68m-long tapestry is likely to be hosted by the British Museum. Photo / AFP
The Bayeux Tapestry is set to return to England for the first time in 900 years, the Telegraph can reveal.
A loan deal for the depiction of the 1066 Norman Conquest is expected to be announced during French President Emmanuel Macron’s state visit to the United Kingdom.
The landmark agreement will see the tapestry temporarily swapped for the Anglo-Saxon treasures of the Sutton Hoo ship burial, including a warrior’s helmet, sources said.
An exchange of Norman and Anglo-Saxon artefacts is set to be officially announced at the British Museum later today.
The British Museum is understood to be the intended recipient of the tapestry, which at 224ft (68m) can be safely displayed by only a few institutions.
Any exhibition based around the tapestry is likely to be a blockbuster event and one of the largest in British history.
The medieval masterpiece, which was likely to have been made by English embroiderers, has been held in France since its probable creation in the years immediately after the 1066 Norman invasion.
William the Conqueror seized the throne of England in 1066 from Harold Godwinson, the last Anglo-Saxon king, who is depicted in the tapestry taking an arrow to the eye during the Battle of Hastings.
The tapestry has been cared for since 1983 by the Bayeux Museum, in Normandy, which attracts around 400,000 visitors per year.
How the Bayeux Tapestry has changed hands
Harold Godwinson becomes King of England. William, Duke of Normandy, contests his claim. He invades and defeats Harold at Hastings. William becomes King of England.
William’s half-brother, Bishop Odo of Bayeux, commissions the tapestry. The wool and linen artwork is likely completed by English craftswomen, perhaps as few as three.
Bayeux Cathedral is completed, and the tapestry is hung around the nave.
The tapestry, having been stored in the cathedral for centuries, is confiscated and almost used for wagon covers by French revolutionaries. It is saved by a local lawyer.
The tapestry is protected by Napoleon’s Fine Art Commissions and seen as useful propaganda for a potential invasion of Britain. It is displayed in the Louvre.
The tapestry is returned to Bayeux.
The tapestry is first put on display in Bayeux at the city hall.
The tapestry was put in storage to protect it during World War II. The Germans seize it and move it several times.
The tapestry is put on display in the Bayeux Museum, the site of an old seminary.
The museum is set to close for two years for renovation from September, presenting an opportunity for the tapestry to be moved across the Channel to a space that can guarantee its preservation.
A deal would conclude plans first announced in 2018 by Theresa May, the then Prime Minister, to secure a loan for the tapestry.
This was repeatedly put off because of concerns for the delicate condition of the embroidery, and the risk of moving it.
It was suggested that a loan deal would be part of a “wider cultural exchange taking place between Britain and France”.
Insiders have suggested plans for an exchange could include artefacts from the Anglo-Saxon Sutton Hoo ship burial – given the historical antagonism between the Germanic group and the Normans.
The 1939 excavation of Sutton Hoo, in Suffolk, uncovered what was probably the 1400-year-old final resting place of a king, complete with golden coins, swords, shields and an ornate iron helmet that has become a symbol of the Anglo-Saxon period.
A ship burial was an honour reserved for the highest-ranking in society. By the time of the excavations, the wooden ship had disintegrated, leaving a ghostly impression in the mud which itself was then washed away.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has previously spoken of his willingness to push through the deal first mooted in 2018, telling History Extra in May: “The Bayeux Tapestry is a unique treasure, and a symbol of the deep ties between Britain and France”.
“The conservation and protection of it is obviously crucial, and I know that the Department for Culture, Media and Sport continues to work closely with their counterparts in France on the planned loan.”
While no details have yet been released, the loan will probably be limited. The Bayeux Museum is currently adding a new state-of-the-art extension to house the tapestry, which is set to open in 2027.
The apparent breakthrough in the loan comes under the leadership of George Osborne, the British Museum chairman, who has been open about his willingness to do deals for historical artefacts.
Osborne has also supported the idea of loaning the Elgin Marbles to Greece as part of a potential cultural exchange that would see a mass of ancient treasures sent to London.
Last year, the British Museum sought to cool tensions over colonial artefacts by loaning a hoard of Asante golden artefacts to the museum of the Asante King in Ghana. They had originally been taken as a war indemnity by British troops.