Bayeux Tapestry: Treasury to insure artefact for £800m forward of British Museum mortgage | EUROtoday

The Treasury is about to insure the historic Bayeux Tapestry for an estimated £800 million when it arrives on mortgage on the British Museum subsequent yr.

The Government-backed cowl will defend the 70-metre artefact, which depicts the 1066 Norman invasion and the Battle of Hastings, in opposition to harm or loss throughout its switch from France and all through its exhibition within the UK.

The insurance coverage will function beneath the Government Indemnity Scheme, a significant various to industrial insurance coverage that permits main artwork and cultural objects to be displayed throughout the United Kingdom.

The Financial Times reported that the Treasury had provisionally permitted the estimated valuation for the greater than 900-year-old tapestry, with the ultimate determine anticipated to be round £800 million.

“The Government Indemnity Scheme is a long-standing scheme that allows museums and galleries to borrow high value works for major exhibitions, increasing visitor numbers and providing public benefits,” An HM Treasury spokesperson stated.

“Without this cover, public museums and galleries would face a substantial commercial insurance premium, which would be significantly less cost effective.”

The scheme is estimated to have saved UK museums and galleries £81 million in comparison with industrial insurance coverage.

The Bayeux Tapestry depicts the 1066 battle that noticed William the Conqueror take the English throne from Harold Godwinson and grow to be the primary Norman king of England.

It shall be on mortgage whereas the Bayeux Tapestry Museum in Normandy closes for renovation, with its reopening scheduled for October 2027.

It is a part of a cultural alternate that can see the British Museum mortgage the Sutton Hoo assortment, the Lewis Chessmen and different objects to France in return for the tapestry.

In France, voices from the artwork and conservation fields have known as on President Emmanuel Macron to desert the undertaking over considerations that transportation would trigger irreparable harm to the tapestry.