Why the British Museum Banned Photography of the Bayeux Tapestry

The Bayeux Tapestry exhibition on the British Museum has confirmed to be a wild success with museumgoers. Tickets went on sale on July 1, breaking the museum’s single-day gross sales report and producing greater than £2.5 million ($3.3 million) inside 24 hours. However, only a few weeks into the run, the museum has made the surprising announcement of banning pictures of the tapestry.

The rule went into impact after museum officers seen that guests stopping to take pictures have been slowing the circulation of site visitors via the exhibition corridor, creating backups and delaying different guests. “There has been enormous interest in viewing the tapestry, and our priority is to ensure that all visitors have the best experience possible,” the museum stated in an announcement. “In order to do this, we have made the decision to restrict photography while people are moving along the length of the tapestry.” According to the British Museum’s website, sketching and drawing are additionally prohibited. Photography stays permitted elsewhere within the museum for private, non-commercial use.

Visitors transfer via the exhibition in a one-way system and are allotted roughly 40 minutes. Every couple of minutes, audio bulletins in English and French urge the group to maintain shifting. For those that wish to take one thing house, the reward store sells loads of books, postcards, and different gadgets with pictures of the tapestry.

Stretching roughly 230 toes lengthy, the Bayeux Tapestry depicts the occasions main as much as the Battle of Hastings in 1066 and the Norman Conquest of England, with 627 human figures and greater than 700 animals rendered in embroidery. Despite its common title, it’s technically not a tapestry in any respect, because the design is stitched quite than woven. While its actual origins are unknown, it was more than likely made in Canterbury, England, shortly after the conquest earlier than being transported to the city of Bayeux in Northern France, the place it has been housed for hundreds of years.

The present exhibition marks the primary time it has left France in almost a thousand years, the results of years of diplomatic effort and previously described by British Museum Chairman George Osborne as “without a doubt the biggest year in the museum’s history.”

After arriving on the British Museum this summer time and opening to the general public this month, the exhibition runs via July 11, 2027, with tickets already bought out via the top of December. Tickets for January 1 via March 31, 2027 will go on sale on October 21, with additional dates for April via July 2027 releasing later. After the exhibition, the relic will return to its everlasting house in Normandy at the Bayeux Museum, which is at the moment below renovation.