The upcoming presentation of the Bayeux Tapestry, a 230-foot-long embroidered cloth depicting the Norman invasion of 1066, figures to be the blockbuster exhibition of the year for the British Museum. The institution is pricing tickets like it is.
On Thursday, the museum said that tickets to see the tapestry, which goes on view September 10 through July 11, 2027, will cost £33 for a standard adult ticket, or about $45. That’s the high end, for “peak” times. During off-peak times, i.e. non-holiday, non summer weekdays until 5:10 p.m., an adult ticket will cost £27. Tickets for Students and disabled visitors are a flat £25. All tickets get you a 40-minute visit with the tapestry.
The first two weeks of the exhibition and the last two weeks of the exhibition will be treated as “peak” tickets no matter the timing.
If that wasn’t all confusing enough, the British Museum said it is also offering “super off-peak” tickets for £25, available for the last time slot of each weekday, i.e. 3:30 p. m. to 4:20 p.m. Members get tickets for free, but still must book a time slot, with each member getting only two free visits to the tapestry during the exhibition’s entire run.
As the Art Newspaper noted, the price of the ticket is just a little bit more expensive the museum’s usual temporary exhibitions, which have recently ranged from £18 to £25.
The museum is no doubt expecting a lot of interest, as the show will mark the first time the tapestry has visited the UK in over 900 years. The tapestry is a loan from France, the result of an agreement reached last July between the two countries. The UK will send objects from the Sutton Hoo ship burial and the 12th-century Lewis chess pieces to institutions in Normandy, France.
The Bayeux Tapestry features 58 scenes and 626 characters to tell the story of the Norman Conquest of England and the Battle of Hastings, and is ocnsidered one of the greatest Romanesque artworks.
The museum is pulling out all the stops for its historic presentation. Earlier this week, it announced that it will host “Tapestry of Trees,” an outdoor installation by garden designer Andy Sturgeon that is meant to evoke a medieval woodland, composed of plants and trees found in the subject of the tapestry.
