Bayeux Tapestry

The Bayeux Tapestry is a nearly 70-meter-long (230 feet) embroidered linen cloth created around 1070, depicting the events leading up to the Norman Conquest of England in 1066, culminating in the Battle of Hastings. Despite its name, it is not a true tapestry but an embroidery, made with wool thread on linen using stem and couching stitches in up to ten natural dyes.

It is widely believed to have been commissioned by Bishop Odo of Bayeux, half-brother of William the Conqueror, and likely crafted by Anglo-Saxon artisans in Canterbury, England. The work features 58 scenes with Latin inscriptions (tituli), portraying key figures such as Harold Godwinson and William, Duke of Normandy, and includes vivid depictions of warfare, shipbuilding, feasting, and even Halley’s Comet as an omen.

The tapestry has been housed in Bayeux, Normandy, France, for centuries and is displayed at the Musée de la Tapisserie de Bayeux. Notably, it will travel to the British Museum in London from September 2026 to July 2027—its first return to England in over 900 years.