The Bayeux Tapestry Problem

8 years after it was originally announced, the Bayeux Tapestry has finally made its way to British soil. While we were expecting Bayeux-mania to take hold, the reception has been rather flat.

It's impossible to examine the Bayeux Tapestry exhibition without addressing what is probably the most controversial heritage institution in the world. The British museum has become a by-word for the debate around the reparation of stolen items. There are calls for many of its items, like the Benin Bronzes and the Rosetta Stone, to their countries of origin. Their methods of acquisition have come under much scrutiny. From Nazi looted paintings to items literally taken from the ground where they stood. The British Museum may be the obvious choice for the Bayeux exhibition as it is essentially our national museum, but criticism was always going to come even if they put on a ‘perfect’ exhibition.

The movement of the Tapestry itself has come under much criticism from specialist textile historians ever since the idea was announced in 2018. To view the situation pessimistically, we’re doing the French Government a favour while they do up the Bayeux Museum. That’s not to say this should be an excellent opportunity for people who can’t travel to France to see the Tapestry. The problem now is that it may well be cheaper for a lot of the population to actually go and see the Bayeux Tapestry in France.

Before the museum closed, it was just €12 to see the Tapestry in the Bayeux museum. Tickets for the British Museum exhibition are £33 at peak time, with a £25 concession price which does include students. While it remains to be seen if the refurbished museum still charges €12, the extra £23 that the British Museum is charging is extortionate. While it has cost a lot £1.2 million to move the Tapestry to the UK, the museum has generated nearly £2.5 million from the first round of ticket sales alone. There are more rounds of sales to come, as well as spending in the gift shop and cafe. On top of this, the museum has taken 5 million of private funding from American-Belarusian billionaire Igor Tulchinsky.

Despite all of these qualms, if you have managed to get a ticket to the exhibition you deserve to have a good experience. Unfortunately, according to a lot of attendees this is not happening. The decision to ban photography and filming was taken after a few days in order to ease queues. It’s easy to criticise modern life as being obsessed with capturing every moment, but I really don’t think it's unreasonable to want a photo taken with the Bayeux Tapestry after you’ve paid £33 a ticket for what’s meant to be a once in a generation event. That’s a picture you’d like to look back on in the future.

The big problem is crowd control. Firstly it has been reported that ticket holders have been turned away due to an early close for private events. Questions have also been raised about if the museum has sold too many tickets. Lots of visitors have reported long queues, which is apparently due to people taking more than their allotted 40 minute time slot. 40 minutes may sound like a lot, but to actually interpret a historical source and understand the story playing out that really isn’t a long time. The tapestry isn’t just something to look at, it is a story that you watch play out. I saw a video from an international masters student who was quite disappointed by her visitor experience. She had never studied the story of 1066, and didn’t realise how little time she would have per scene. 1.75 metres per minute is a huge amount to take in, and allowing for translation of signage into her native language she felt she barely got a look at it. I can imagine for guests bringing children, it would be hard to move through the exhibition under the prescribed timings as it allows almost no time for kids to ask questions.

Despite being a history student and huge fan of museums, I don’t think I will try to get tickets for the exhibition during the next sale. I honestly think I would rather go to Bayeux in a few years time for a quieter visit where I’m not rushed through. It has undeniably been exciting to have the Tapestry in the UK for the first time in 900 years, but I don’t think it's worth the money or the stress to go and see it housed in the British Museum.

Written by, Eleanor Patamia