UK Taxpayers to Pay $1 Billion to InsureBayeux Tapestry for British Museum Loan
51Dec. 30, 2025
The UK Treasury will rely on the taxpayer-backed Government Indemnity Scheme to insure theBayeux Tapestryfor an estimated £800 million ($1 billion) while it is on loan from Normandy tothe British Museumnext year, theFinancial Timesreports. The scheme, which is administered by the UK department for culture, media, and sport, is a less expensive alternative to commercial insurance and allows art and cultural objects to be shown publicly in the UK. The plan is estimated to save museums and galleries a collective £81 million a year in insurance costs.
Created in England during the eleventh century, the 230-foot-long Bayeux Tapestry chronicles the 1066 Norman Conquest of England and the Battle of Hastings; with a few interruptions it has remained in Bayeux, France, for a thousand years. French president Emmanuel Macron in 2018 offered to loan the work to England, but conservators deemed the embroidered cloth too fragile to be moved. According to details of a six-page “administrative agreement” between the French and British culture ministries, the tapestry will be transported to London by truck, via the Channel Tunnel. A dry run involving a crate “containing a facsimile of the tapestry equipped with a vibration analysis device” will first be conducted to ensure the tapestry can survive the transfer.
Beginning in September 2026, the tapestry will be on view at the British Museum’s Sainsbury Gallery, which is long enough to allow for it to be displayed in a single length. It will remain there through July 2027, while the Bayeux Tapestry Museum, where it is typically held, undergoes renovations. The British Museum will loan treasures to France in exchange.