Bayeux tapiseries in France two years closed for visitors

Bayeux tapiseries in France two years closed for visitors

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cnn - from Picasso's "Guernica" to Goya's "turmoil of war" there are many famous representations of conflicts, but one of the oldest and most extraordinary is the French wall carpet from Bayeux from the 11th century. Over 70 meters long and 70 centimeters wide linen fabric (about 224 feet on 2 inches), the history of the conquest of England in 1066 - the last time the country was successfully invasively affected by an enemy foreign power - by William, the Duke of Normandy, also known as Wilhelm the conqueror.

The development of the wall carpet

The creators of this medieval masterpiece have been lost in time, but it was believed that it was commissioned by Odo, the Bishop of Bayeux and Wilhelm's half-brother, to decorate the nave of the new Cathedral Notre-Dame of Bayeux, which was consecrated in 1077. Since 1983, the wall carpet in the Grand Séminaire of Bayeux has been exhibited in northwestern France, part of the Bayeux Museum complex, which also includes the Normandie Battle Memorial Museum and the Baron Gérard Museum for Art and History.

Visit the wall carpet

Visitors who want to see this legendary example of art propaganda should plan your visit before 7 p.m. local time on August 31, 2025, as the museum will close for a large renovation and preservation project until October 2027. The reopening will take place to celebrate the Millennium of the birth of Wilhelm of the conqueror.

bigger and better

A new extension of the Grand Séminaire designed by the British architecture firm RSHP, will accommodate the wall carpet and double the exhibition room. The $ 38 million ($ 36 million) is managed by the city of Bayeux in cooperation with the French state - the owner of the wall carpet - as well as the department councilor Calvados and the regional council Normandy. "With regard to economic and cultural influence, this is the most complex and ambitious project that was ever carried out by the city of Bayeux," said Patrick Gomont, Mayor of Bayeux, in a press release.

preservation of the wall carpet

As before, the wall carpet is kept in a hermetically locked room to protect it from atmospheric pollution and changes in light and climate. He is now presented on an inclined support that was specially designed in order to meet the preservation needs of the almost thousand -year -old fragile textile. In 2024, almost 600,000 people visited the Bayeux Museums, with most international visitors from the United Kingdom or the USA.

famous scenes in the wall carpet

The crowd, which admired the wall carpet in the 11th century, could not have read. Narrative wall carpets of this kind, with a mixture of images and text inscriptions, were a way to tell stories that everyone could understand. The best -known scene of the wall carpet - which is technically not a wall carpet - shows Harold, the last Anglo -Saxon king of England, who is hit by an arrow in the fight. Further remarkable moments include the illustration of the Halley comet , about six centuries before the birth of Edmond Halley, the English astronomer, after which he would be named one day.

temporary storage

The preservation of the fabric, which consists of 10 colors of wool thread with vegetable dyes, is not easy and requires experienced hands. "During the time when the museum is closed to the public, the presentation stage of the work could be brought to the premises, making it a real laboratory," said Antoine Verney, the main curator of the Bayeux Museums, in a press release. "Photographs, surveillance and studies can be taken, as well as the program for an ambitious restoration campaign, which is monitored by the French state, the owner of the artwork, to stabilize the damage to the embroidered canvas." The original colors have changed remarkably little over the years, but the work on the restoration in the 19th century, especially in the heavily restored last sections, suffered greatly.

In January 2025, the operations for removal and restoration begin, starting with the careful dusting of the canvas and the removal of the fleece pad, which was added in 1983. When the preserving work begins in autumn 2025, the wall carpet will be removed from its exhibition box and then packed in a preserving box before it is taken to temporary storage rooms.

The Bayeux wall carpet is not the only popular French attraction that comes under the ceiling this year. The Center Pompidou in Paris, the cultural center from the 1970s with its groundbreaking Inner outside construction, will be closed for five years from late summer 2025.

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