Treasury to cover Bayeux Tapestry loan to UK for estimated £800m
The Treasury will insure the Bayeux Tapestry, which will be loaned to the British Museum next year, against damage for around £800 million.
The 70-meter-long embroidery depicting the Battle of Hastings in 1066 will go from France to London as part of an agreement between the governments of the two countries.
The transportation, storage and exhibition period of the work will be covered within the scope of the State Compensation Plan (GIS). Indemnity insurance covers situations such as loss or damage.
A Treasury spokesman said that without the long-standing plan, “public museums and galleries would face a significant commercial insurance premium, which would be significantly less cost-effective”.
There are concerns about this move, with some French art experts claiming that the nearly 1,000-year-old work is in too delicate a condition to be transported. French officials denied this.
It is understood that the Treasury received a preliminary valuation for the covering of the provisionally approved Bayeux Tapestry. The loan will not be officially approved until we receive the final valuation.
This final valuation is estimated to be around £800 million. Financial Timesciting unnamed officials. The Treasury did not dispute this figure when contacted by the BBC.
The Bayeux Tapestry, which is more than 900 years old, will be on display at the British Museum’s Sainsbury Exhibition Gallery from next September until July 2027, while its current home, the Bayeux Museum, is undergoing renovations.
The massive masterpiece, consisting of 58 scenes, 626 characters and 202 horses, depicts the controversial period in Anglo-French relations when William the Conqueror took the English throne from Harold Godwinson and became the first Norman king of England.
The government’s compensation scheme allows art and cultural objects to be displayed publicly in the UK; which “could not have happened otherwise because the cost of insurance would have been too high”.
First established in 1980, the program has facilitated the granting of a number of high-value loans, including Vincent van Gogh’s 1888 work The Bedroom to the National Gallery.
The scheme is estimated to save museums and galleries around £81 million a year compared to the cost of taking out commercial insurance.
In exchange for the Bayeux Tapestry, the British Museum will loan various items to France, including 7th Century Anglo-Saxon artefacts and 12th Century Lewis chess pieces discovered at Sutton Hoo cemetery in Suffolk.
