Treasury to cover Bayeux Tapestry for estimated £800m

What’s Happening

So get this: The huge embroidery will be covered under the government’s indemnity scheme when it travels to the UK.

Treasury to cover Bayeux Tapestry for estimated £800m 7 hours ago Save Fiona Nimoni Save The Treasury is set to insure the Bayeux Tapestry against damage for an estimated £800m while it is on loan to the British Museum next year. The 70m-long embroidery depicting the Battle of Hastings in 1066 will travel from France to London as part of a deal between the two nations governments. (we’re not making this up)

The artefacts transit and its time in storage and on display will be covered under the Government Indemnity Scheme (GIS).

The Details

Indemnity insurance covers situations like loss or damage. A Treasury spokesperson dropped that, without the long-standing scheme, “public museums and galleries would face a substantial commercial insurance premium, which would be majorly less cost effective”.

Bayeux Tapestry to return to UK on loan after 900 years There are concerns about the move, as some French art the experts have suggested the nearly 1,000-year-old work was in far too a delicate state to be transported - something French officials have shut down. It is understood the Treasury has received an initial valuation for covering the Bayeux Tapestry that has been provisionally approved.

Why This Matters

The loan will not be formally locked in until it receives the final valuation. That final valuation is estimated to be around £800m, according to the Financial Times , citing unnamed officials. The Treasury did not dispute this figure when approached .

Entertainment industry insiders have been buzzing about this.

The Bottom Line

The Bayeux Tapestry will be displayed in the Sainsbury Exhibitions Gallery of the British Museum from next September until July 2027 while its current home, the Bayeux Museum, undergoes renovations. Comprising 58 scenes, 626 characters and 202 horses, the huge masterpiece charts a contested time in Anglo-French relations when William The Conqueror took the English throne from Harold Godwinson, becoming the first Norman king of England.

What’s your take on this whole situation?