The Bayeux Tapestry at the British Museum.Photo Alishia Abodunde/Getty Images

British Museum U-turns on Photography of Bayeux Tapestry, While Conservators Discover Two New Small Breaks After Arrival in UK

by · ARTnews

The Bayeux Tapestry has taken the British Museum and London by storm with tickets selling out, merchandise being flaunted all over social media, and bookshops placing volumes on the history of the Bayeux Tapestry at every till. But it seems visitors are already disappointed by their experience at the museum as the British Museum has made a U-turn on allowing photography, according to the Substack Maxwell Museum.

It’s unclear as to why the British Museum has banned photography without a reason. “Signs at the entrance say its [sic] prohibited, despite your e-ticket saying it’s allowed. The exhibition’s webpage says photos are banned too, but it was saying the opposite just yesterday on the opening day (I’ve checked on the Wayback Machine archive),” writes Maxwell Blowfield, author of the Substack. “I’ve asked the British Museum why there’s been the sudden change, but have not heard back at time of writing.”

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The British Museum did not answer a request for further comment about the use of photography in the exhibition from ARTnews.

Upon its arrival in Britain, the Bayeux Tapestry has been scrutinized to minute detail. Thalia Bajon-Bouzid, one of the tapestry’s conservators, recently told the New York Times that her team had discovered two new small breaks “among its millions of threads while checking its condition after it arrived in England.” She added that the thread breaks were both “a few millimeters long.”

A spokesperson for the British Museum said that the “British Museum received the draft of condition report B last week. This report compares the Tapestry’s condition upon its arrival in London in July 2026 with photographs taken in September 2025, before it was taken off display in Bayeux.” That July condition check was the last full one conducted on the tapestry, with the one previous to that being in 2020. (The tapestry coming off display planned as part of the Bayeux Tapestry Museum’s ongoing renovations.)

The British Museum spokesperson added that the report has not been finalized yet and it’s still to be agreed on by both French and British Museum conservation teams, who carried out the condition checks together. “We can confirm though that from initial reading of the report it strongly suggests the Tapestry’s condition is virtually unchanged,” said the spokesperson.