For the 1000th anniversary of the birth of William the Conqueror, the Bayeux tapestry will regain all its splendor

On Christmas Day 1066, William the Bastard, who became the Conqueror after his victory at the famous Battle of Hastings, was crowned King of England at Westminster Abbey. A few weeks earlier, the man who was still only Duke of Normandy set sail for the English coast from Dives-sur-Mer – a small town in what is now Calvados –, flanked by a war fleet of 700 ships. The Norman Conquest of England was launched!

The graphic account of this epic has reached us thanks to the famous Bayeux Tapestrya wool embroidery on linen canvas, 70 meters long and 50 centimeters wide. Nearly a thousand years after its creation, this masterpiece of the Middle Ages continues to fascinate the 400,000 French and foreign visitors (including a large number of British!) who flock each year to admire it, within the former Bayeux seminary, built in the 17th century.

But the illustrious piece of fabric, listed in UNESCO’s Memory of the World register since 2007, must be restored, and the building which houses it redesigned to improve the conditions for its preservation. “The work is presented vertically, which imposes tension on this extremely fragile fabric,” explains Antoine Verney, chief curator of the Bayeux museums. The conservation standards for ancient textiles recommend exhibiting the work on a linear inclined support. It was therefore necessary to rethink the entire architecture of the place. »

View from the balcony

The museum will therefore close its doors in September 2025, and will reopen after two years of work, in October 2027, the millennium year of the birth of William the Conqueror. In this new setting, the public will be able to discover the overhanging tapestry, thanks to the creation of a balcony which will offer a 180° view of the exhibition gallery. “Enough to be struck by the monumentality of the work”, rejoices in advance the curator who is also working on an enriched explanatory tour. A little later, restoration operations intended to stabilize damage to the embroidery (holes, tears, folds, etc.) will be scheduled.

What did the last torn and missing panels look like? As part of the 2027 celebrations, the Normandy region entrusted the painter and visual artist Hélène Delprat with (read box at end of article) the care of creating the missing scene of the work: the coronation of William the Conqueror at Westminster. “This is neither a question of restoration nor of reconstitution,” warns the artist. However, while using my vocabulary, I would like to keep a link with Bayeux embroidery. Complete this story in my own way. » The creation will take the form of a “real” tapestry and will be entrusted to the weavers of a national factory linked to that of Gobelins. It could then cross the Channel and be shown at Westminster Abbey, in England, before joining William the Conqueror Castle in Falaise (Calvados) – the monarch’s birthplace -, his permanent home. Like a return to basics.