Volkswacht Bodensee - Bayeux Tapestry arrives in London after epic journey from France

AFP journalists at the British Museum saw a metal case holding the 11th-century work being unloaded from a truck which carried it across the Channel in a hushed-up, high-security operation.

"It's a unique moment and it's the product of so much hard work," museum director Nicholas Cullinan told AFP after the tapestry arrived around 3:00 am (0200 GMT). It left its home in northern France on Thursday night.

"It's been very special to have witnessed the arrival of the Bayeux Tapestry, and especially for it to be back on these shores for the first time in probably a thousand years," added Cullinan.

While its exact origins are shrouded in mystery, the tapestry depicting the 1066 Battle of Hastings and start of the invasion by William the Conqueror's Norman army is widely thought to have been made in England before being transferred to Bayeux.

It is believed to be the first time the fragile, 68-metre (224-foot) embroidered tapestry has left France since then, and the first time it has been moved in over 40 years.

It will be displayed at the British Museum from September 10 to July 11, 2027, with 100,000 tickets already sold to the public for the first four months of the exhibition.

The date and details of the move were kept secret until the departure of the tapestry, which was led by a police escort as it made its way through the British capital in the dead of night.

- 'Moving moment' -

French President Emmanuel Macron, who announced the historic loan last year, hailed the transfer as a celebration of Franco-British relations.

It was a "tangible expression of long-standing friendship and a sign of our shared desire to see France and the United Kingdom build their future together," Macron wrote in an article for The Times newspaper.

"It's a very moving moment," French ambassador to the UK Helene Duchene told reporters gathered at the museum.

The transfer -- funded by Britain -- is the result of over a year of planning and technical studies, including two test trips with a full-scale reproduction of the lace-like linen tapestry.

Last September, conservators completed a tricky operation to move the tapestry from its museum in northwestern Normandy, to a secret storage location.

Plans to loan it to London had been considered twice before: in 1953 for the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II and in 1966 for the 900th anniversary of the Battle of Hastings.

Some experts had voiced concerns that move risked causing irreversible damage to a work already weakened by 30 tears and nearly 10,000 holes.

A 2021 study by restoration experts warned of the "additional risks" that a trip lasting more than two hours would pose to the tapestry.

"An unprecedented amount of thought and planning and care has gone into it," Cullinan assured AFP.

The tapestry will remain its specially made, shock-proof case for a few days to "acclimitise", after which a condition check will take place, explained the museum director.

- Eye-watering insurance -

The British government has agreed to provide insurance coverage estimated at £800 million (over $1 billion) in the event of major damage to the tapestry.

Peter Ricketts, who helped coordinate the transfer, insisted the one-of-a-kind work will be returned to France "safe and sound".

The eye-watering insurance cover "just shows how serious we are about ensuring that it goes back in good condition," Ricketts told AFP before the transfer.

"I think it is a singular survival from the period in which it survives, there aren't really any other textiles made in England from this period on this scale," said Millie Horton-Insch, project curator for the exhibition.

Many scholars believe it was made by artisans in or around Canterbury in southern England.

It was probably commissioned by Bishop Odo of Bayeux -- William the Conqueror's half-brother -- in 1077 to decorate the new cathedral in his hometown, Bayeux, according to the tapestry's home museum.

"I don't think we know for sure," French envoy Duchene speculated about the origins of the artwork. "It's a long story, and we're here to write the next chapter."

burs-aks/tw

H.Kuenzler--VB