The British Museum (BM) has banned visitors from taking photographs of the 11th-century Bayeux Tapestry, after concerns the habit was causing delays for others who were trying to see the work. The 70m-long embroidery is on loan to the United Kingdom for the first time since it was created nearly 1,000 years ago, in a special exhibition that has drawn unprecedented levels of interest.
Visitors had been able to take photographs when the show dedicated to the tapestry, which depicts the Norman conquest of England, first opened on 10 September. However, the next day the museums specialist Maxwell Blowfield reported that the BM had changed its policy, with a notice going up on its website stating that photography was prohibited. The museum has now confirmed its reasoning for the move in a statement.
“There has been enormous interest in viewing the tapestry, and our priority is to ensure that all visitors have the best experience possible,” a museum spokesperson says. “In order to do this, we have made the decision to restrict photography while people are moving along the length of the tapestry.”
The Bayeux Tapestry exhibition has proven immensely popular with the public. The museum sold a record 100,000 tickets on the first day of public sales—selling out its initial allocation within hours—and around one million visitors are expected by the time the show closes on 11 July 2027. Visitors are admitted for 40-minute time slots, with staff and an automated announcement encouraging them to keep moving along the flat display case in which the tapestry is housed.
The Art Newspaper’s Martin Bailey noted in a recent review of the experience “with a standard ticket costing £33, [a visit to see the tapestry] works out at almost £1 a minute. And with 58 scenes, it was 35 seconds for each.” He suggests reading up on the history beforehand to enhance the experience.
In the first week of the show’s run, however, there were reports of ticket holders being turned away at the door because previous visitors had taken too long taking photographs. According to Time Out, visitors “who had tickets for the last slot of the day said that they only got halfway down the artefact when the lights (which are switched on for limited hours to protect the material) were turned off”.
The Art Newspaper understands that the lights had to be turned off due to the strict number of hours that the Bayeux Tapestry can be subjected to light, which the BM must adhere to as part of the loan agreement, and that those affected by the disruption have been offered refunds or the option to reschedule.