The French Bayeux Tapestry will arrive in the UK with an insurance cover of $1 billion, which would be ultimately paid by the British people.
The Bayeux Tapestry is scheduled to arrive in the UK from France in 2026, where it will go on display at the British Museum. The transport of the 230-foot tapestry, which is old and fragile, has been the biggest contention in the loan agreement. The UK Treasury has now announced a scheme under which the tapestry will be covered from damages against a guarantee of £800 million ($1 billion). It means that if push comes to shove, the UK taxpayers would have to foot an additional bill of a billion dollars.
However, the Treasury has assured the people that the decision was a sound one. First, the authorities claim that there is almost no chance of damage to the tapestry given the meticulous transport arrangements. By matching the current valuation of the tapestry, the UK government did not have to pay any upfront amount to France as a guarantee. The Treasury Department said that they had a similar arrangement when van Gogh’s The Bedroom (1880) came on loan in 2023-24.
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The loan of the 1000-year-old Bayeux Tapestry is part of a cultural push of cooperation between the UK and France. Once transported, it will remain at the British Museum until July 2027. After that, it will be returned to France (granted the French authorities are satisfied with the condition of the artwork). It must be noted that many art conservatives in France and even in the UK have been vocal against the movement of the ancient tapestry between countries.
