The Treasury is set to insure the Bayeux Tapestry against damage for an estimated £800m while it is on loan to the British Museum next year.
The 70m-long embroidery depicting the Battle of Hastings in 1066 will travel from France to London as part of a deal between the two nations’ governments.
The artefact’s transit and its time in storage and on display will be covered under the Government Indemnity Scheme (GIS). Indemnity insurance covers situations like loss or damage.
A Treasury spokesperson said that, without the long-standing scheme, “public museums and galleries would face a substantial commercial insurance premium, which would be significantly less cost effective”.
There are concerns about the move, as some French art experts have suggested the nearly 1,000-year-old work was in far too a delicate state to be transported – something French officials have denied.
It is understood the Treasury has received an initial valuation for covering the Bayeux Tapestry that has been provisionally approved. The loan will not be formally confirmed until it receives the final valuation.
That final valuation is estimated to be around £800m, according to the Financial Times, citing unnamed officials. The Treasury did not dispute this figure when approached by the BBC.
The Bayeux Tapestry will be displayed in the Sainsbury Exhibitions Gallery of the British Museum from next September until July 2027 while its current home, the Bayeux Museum, undergoes renovations.
Comprising 58 scenes, 626 characters and 202 horses, the huge masterpiece charts a contested time in Anglo-French relations when William The Conqueror took the English throne from Harold Godwinson, becoming the first Norman king of England.
The government’s indemnity scheme allows art and cultural objects to be shown publicly in the UK which “might not have been otherwise because the cost of insurance would have been too high”.
The scheme – first set up in 1980 – has facilitated numerous high-value loans, including Vincent van Gogh’s 1888 work The Bedroom to the National Gallery.
The scheme is estimated to save museums and galleries around £81m a year when compared to the cost of taking out commercial insurance.
In exchange for the Bayeux Tapestry, the British Museum will loan items to France, including the 7th Century Anglo-Saxon artefacts discovered at the Sutton Hoo burial site in Suffolk and the 12th Century Lewis chess pieces.
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