Bayeux Tapestry delivered to British Museum in dead of night

artJul 10, 2026972,599

The 11th-century Bayeux Tapestry arrived at the British Museum at 02:50 this morning, driven from a secret location in northern France under police guard and delivered into the museum loading bay in a heavy aluminium-framed crate. The 70-metre embroidery, made up of 58 scenes depicting events leading to the 1066 Battle of Hastings and the Norman Conquest, will go on display in September for a nine-month loan backed by the French government. The arrival was witnessed by the French ambassador to the UK and British Museum director Nick Cullinan, who said it was "returning to England for the first time in almost 1,000 years." Project curator Millie Horton-Insch said the object's proximity in time to the events it depicts made the moment "really profound" and emotional. The loan was finalised last year in an agreement between President Emmanuel Macron and Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer while the museum in Bayeux is closed for renovation. In exchange for the tapestry, the British Museum will lend items including pieces from the Sutton Hoo hoard and the 12th-century Lewis chess pieces. The transfer has drawn criticism in France, including a petition calling the loan a "heritage crime" and objections voiced by the late artist David Hockney over the risks of moving such a fragile work.

Alison Fisk

@alisonfisk.bsky.social

Fabulous Roman gold body chain!🤩 A jewelled mount set with amethyst & garnets, and a rear clasp set with gold coin of emperor Gratian. Late 4th century AD. Part of the Hoxne Hoard, discovered by a metal detectorist in Suffolk in 1992. British Museum 📷 by me #FindsFriday #Archaeology

My photo collage shows a Roman gold body chain from the Hoxne Hoard.

Left photo: close up of the jewelled mount at the front of the body chain; a roughly oval gold setting for nine gems. The centre oval cell contains a cabochon amethyst surrounded by four almond-shaped garnets (one damaged) which alternate with four empty circular cells still containing some sulphur. These may have contained pearls. The chain terminals are decorated with lion heads.

Top right photo: view of the front of the body chain displayed on a mannequin at the British Museum. The body chain is composed of four chains which are joined to form an upper-body decoration which passes over the shoulders and under the arms of the wearer, crossing at the front and back.

Bottom right photo: view of the back of the body chain which has a clasp with octagonal mount set with a gold coin of Gratian.

Discovered in 1992, the Hoxne Hoard was buried some time after AD407/8 when Roman rule was breaking down in Britain. Made up of gold jewellery, silver tableware and more than 15,000 gold and silver coins.

33544d ago

Alison Fisk71

The Hoxne Hoard was buried some time after AD407/8 when Roman rule was breaking down in Britain. It was made up of gold jewellery, including this body chain, silver tableware and more than 15,000 gold and silver coins. Read more about the hoard on this link: www.smithsonianmag.com/history/sear...

Dawn Del Vecchio3

OK, in the next sword and sandals epic Hollywood makes, I want to see a character wearing this!

Dr Pat Witts3

In the Low Ham mosaic displayed in the excellent Museum of Somerset, Venus wears a body chain similar to this - but without as much bling! I wonder who wore the Hoxne chain, and on what occasions ...

onetruewheel.bsky.social2

That was an awesome bacchanal honey! Can you help me unchain?

🏳️‍🌈☽✩☾🏳️‍🌈1

I love body chains! I believe the ones we have are mostly from hoards like this, because the ones that weren't lost were often taken apart by later owners and repurposed for necklaces and other jewlery as tastes changed.

Rhi🐝1

Wouldn’t want to be wearing that in today’s heatwave 🤣🫠

Quoting this

Krista D Ball is Canada's Scalloped Potato18

make gold body chains great again

Carl T. Bergstrom

@carlbergstrom.com

British Museum sets historic precedent by surreptitiously acquiring domestic antiquity.

29745d ago

Jon4

You think we're going to give it back? Ha!

ruggledome.bsky.social4

Forgive me as I bring up the past.... in a technical sense it's embroidery bsky.app/profile/alan...

JC Dubacq2

There has been one century of war about the fine points of this "domestic" thing.

Ice Nine1

Ah a tapestry of dicks, quite appropriate really

Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan

@london.gov.uk

Nearly 1,000 years in the making. The Bayeux Tapestry is in London, back on British soil for the first time in almost a millennium. We can't wait to welcome thousands to the capital for this once-in-a-generation event.

24244d ago

Quoting this

Danny Kelly 3

Tenner says we nick it!

Dr Seán DOOLAN 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 🇮🇪2

If nearly a thousand years is now "once-in-a-generation", I expect some politicians to start using it in relation to Scotland 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

Jill Lawless

@jilllawless.bsky.social

The Bayeux Tapestry is in this box. It arrived overnight at the British Museum after leaving France for the first time in 900 years.

17745d ago

Gregory Mendham 9

This was the photo sent to the director of the museum, who wasn't in at the time, to say the delivery has been completed after they left it on the doorstep.

They who stay quiet in the void1

Are people saying "first time in 900 years" because it was made 900 years ago or did it actually travel somewhere 900 years ago?

Garry Nicoll1

I hope somebody was in at the museum or they’ll leave it behind the wheelie bins.

BrexitVoyeur1

The team at The British Museum are already hard at work.

mgbesq1

Hey wait just a minute

Quoting this

Dr Duncan Robertson72

I was sort of expecting it to be in a very long envelope.

Cora Peeta M 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️🇦🇶🇺🇳21

Going to be so freaky when they find the sequel on the back

Ned Hartley16

Danny Ocean is about to reveal that he actually stole it yesterday in a complicated and narratively unsatisfying flashback.

Thomas I-G9

Mind blowing that moving it like this is even possible for something so delicate and and so old. I also like how it's being transported like Hannibal Lecter.

Mint Royale6

Great. And now they’ve got to fit all that packaging in the recycling, which is already full because they forgot to put the bin out on Monday night.

juux6

Good luck getting it back, France The British Museum:

Bill Wilkinson4

Good luck getting that back.

Chris Jones4

They open up the box and discover, to their horror, that it's an embroidery not a tapestry

Peadar Ó Guilín4

Will there be an unboxing video? I can't wait until I get mine.

Anthony Dornan3

I hope they got a receipt. You know what the British Museum is like.

Rebecca Tyson

@tyguson.bsky.social

Norman ships were projected onto the White Cliffs of Dover as the Bayeux Tapestry arrived at the British Museum last night. #MedievalSky www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

11545d ago

Quoting this

Jillian14

am I the only one who finds this deeply unsettling lol

RexLibris2

Briton in 1066: "Mercy!" Britain in 2026: "Merci!"

Joel Morris

@gralefrit.bsky.social

It’s nice that we’re getting a borrow of the Bayeux Tapestry, but it would be amazing if they displayed it at the Cartoon Museum.

8444d ago

Joel Morris18

It’s basically Leo Baxendale’s Big Long William The Conqueror Adventure.

Al Jazeera English

@aljazeera.com

The loan of the artwork is seen as symbolic of French-British relations as London works to mend ties post-Brexit.

6045d ago

Liss (they/them) 🫐5

kinda weird to say something is smuggled when it's an official loan???

Manooks3

Careful now, the British have a habit of keeping historic items from other countries.

Algarve Celtic2

Must be weird for Britain to exhibit some art that was made there and went overseas rather than the usual way of stealing foreign artefacts, claiming them to be theirs and putting them on display

Stuart Douglas Larkin1

Smuggled? This was written/translated by a shit-tier AI and not checked for errors by a human. Perfect.

Leonie V. Hicks

@lvhicks.bsky.social

I'm quite emotional (too hot and sleep deprived), but this really is momentous. I hope the Tapeatey's visit will engage and enthuse people in the wonders of medieval studies. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article... #BayeuxTapestry #medievalsky #skystorians

5045d ago

Marc Morris

@marcmorris.bsky.social

Caring for the Bayeux Tapestry now v. the early nineteenth century.

5044d ago

Sonja Drimmer

@sonjadrimmer.bsky.social

Remember, everyone. It is perfectly acceptable to fixate exclusively on the quantity and relative size of horse penises on display in the Bayeux Tapestry. The motif is, one could argue, the linchpin to its political argument.

4444d ago

Alison

@alisondennison.bsky.social

This generosity from France is v sus. We open the box and loads of Norman soldiers stream out apnews.com/article/baye...

5445d ago

Toby Miller2

Life size, but still made of twine. One catches a sleeve on a door handle and unravels from shoe to sword.

David KC

@davidmuttering.bsky.social

There's a new film out about the Bayeux Tapestry coming to London

5144d ago

Catdorrell.bsky.social1

That looks fun, I might take the young children on our street to see it. My friends dad rented 'Caligula' for his 9 Yr old because he thought it was a good guide to Roman history.

Jack Tindale

@jacktindale.bsky.social

Can't even get tickets for the Bayeux Tapestry any more. Because of Yoke.

3544d ago

Will Maclean

@willmac23.bsky.social

While we have the Bayeux Tapestry, I think we should bring it up to date, adding all the events that have happened since then to it. The Renaissance. All the wars. Nasty Nick getting kicked off Big Brother 1. “Sweet like Chocolate” by Shanks and Bigfoot. Cat Bin Lady. It’s the least we can do

3145d ago

Miss Havishambles

@misshavishambles.bsky.social

Amazon just delivered the Bayeux Tapestry it was left with next door neighbours for 900 years.

3444d ago

1 source

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Bayeux Tapestry delivered to British Museum in dead of night

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