Yahoo News The Bayeux Tapestry is coming to Britain - but what exactly is it?
The Bayeux Tapestry could be put on display in Britain following reports French president Emmanuel Macron has agreed to allow the artwork to leave France for the first time in 950 years.
The tapestry, nearly 70 metres (230ft) long, depicts the events leading up to the Norman conquest of England by William the Conqueror against his opponent Harold, Earl of Wessex, and culminates in the Battle of Hastings.
According to The Times, Mr Macron is expected to announce the loan of the artwork when he meets British prime minister Theresa May at Sandhurst on Thursday.
The paper said the director of the Bayeux Museum in Normandy – where the tapestry is currently based – confirmed preparations were under way for the embroidery to be re-located, but said tests would need to be carried out to make sure it could be moved without being damaged.
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The location for the display in Britain is not thought to have been decided and it could take five years before it reaches British shores.
The tapestry last left Normandy to be put on display in Paris in 1804 and briefly at the Louvre in 1944 before being returned to Bayeux.
Here is everything you need to know about the Bayeux Tapestry:
– The Bayeux Tapestry is nearly 70 metres (230ft) long, 50cm (1.6ft) high and made of nine panels of linen cloth.
– Although it is called a tapestry, it is in fact an embroidery stitched with 10 shades of woollen yarn.
– The tapestry chronicles events leading up to the Norman conquest of England by William the Conqueror and culminates in the Battle of Hastings and the defeat of Harold in 1066.
– Nothing is known for certain about its origins, with the first written record appearing in the Bayeux Cathedral’s inventory of treasures in 1476.
– Napoleon put it on display in Paris in 1804 and it was briefly exhibited at the city’s Louvre in 1944.
– The tapestry is currently exhibited in the Bayeux Museum in Normandy.
