Bayeux Tapestry
We’re currently on the Rendezvous on the Seine tour. Our local guide told us that the Bayeux Tapestry Museum will be closed to the public in September 2025 for approximately 2 years for a major renovation. I asked our Tauck TD’s how that will impact their tours during that period; they don’t have info yet, think they’ll probably still go to the town of Bayeux without seeing the tapestry. I thought those of you who are planning tours that include it would like to know.
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How kind of you to report this. I look forward to your tour critique.
https://www.bayeuxmuseum.com/en/actus/what-will-the-new-bayeux-tapestry-museum-look-like/
I loved seeing that tapestry on the Loire Valley, Normandy & Brittany tour. So much history on that tour!
Thanks, again, mfrancis. The tapestry was not part of our London > Paris > Seine tour last spring. How fortunate for you and MCD to view it in person!
I am a needleworker and historian. I was facinated with the Bayeaux Tapestry and I think of frequently. A friend of mine had a replica of a section she embroidered over her fireplace. When I was in Bayeaux on the tour I visited a needlework shop a little way down the street from the museum on the right and purchased the kit for the Mont St. Michel section! Mont St. Michel was a bucket list item for me that I could check off on the tour! The owner of the shop had an exclusive with the museum to make the kits. It has an unusual stitch and she gave me her contact info if I needed help. We had our picture taken together outside the shop!
Such a happy memory for me. I have not had the opportunity to take her up on her offer for help as the kit is still in my closet after 10 years. This trip was one of my favorites.
Last year on the Normandy, Brittany, Loire Valley and Paris tour, in addition to the Bayeux Tapestry, we also saw the Apocalypse Tapestry at Château d'Angers.. It is a large medieval set of tapestries commissioned by Louis I, the Duke of Anjou, and woven in Paris between 1377 and 1382. It depicts the story of the Apocalypse from the Book of Revelation by Saint John the Divine in colorful images, spread over six tapestries that originally totalled 90 scenes, and were about 20 feet high, and 450 feet long in total. Though a few hundred years younger than the Bayeux which dates from the 1070's, it is quite a bit larger. The Apocalypse Tapestry is regarded as the most famous tapestry from the 14th century.
Bucketlist, you were lucky. The needlework shop was closed the day we went.
On the same tour Alan did I had looked forward to the Bayeux Tapestry having read up on the history of the Normans and the conquest. It is amazing. It's displayed vertically in a U-shaped glass case. You see it walking by in a line around it and can't really pause for long. There's some pretty good youtube videos on it. However, I think I enjoyed the Apocalypse Tapestry experience better. You get a personal audio device and can go thru it at your own pace. Sometimes I'd sit and really focus on the information.
The only problem with the audio guide was that between the guide and how the sections of the Apocalypse tapestry are arranged, I and others often found it difficult to keep track of which panel we were supposed to be looking at or hearing about.
I was able to sit down on some benches while I was there. I appreciated having the time to do that. But most people just want to walk through...like my hubby. I am a museum nerd...at the Normandy Museum another Taucker and I were the last out of the museum. We got to the bus on time but most people were outside waiting.
Thank you for this information! We are planning a trip to France, so I will be careful about the dates we choose.