Recreation of a missing scene from the Bayeux Tapestry reaches halfway point

A commission to recreate a missing scene from the Bayeux Tapestry depicting the coronation of William the Conqueror at Westminster Abbey in December 1066 is now more than half finished.

The French region of Normandy selected Atelier Tapisserie Guillot, a family-run workshop in Aubusson (Creuse), to complete the 25m² piece in time for millennium celebrations marking William the Conqueror’s birth in 1027. 

“Three of us have been working together on interpreting the missing piece for just over a year so far, with the weaving being done entirely by hand. There are no machines,” said Patrick Guillot, who works with his wife Marie and their son Luc.

“It is important to us to use traditional skills and savoir-faire in the creation of this piece.”

The workshop was founded in 2001 and specialises in tapisserie d'Aubusson, listed as part of UNESCO’s Patrimoine immatériel de l'humanité (Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity). 

Mr Guillot pointed out that the embroidery on the Bayeux Tapestry is on linen and so the techniques used by the family workshop differ slightly from the original methods. 

Linen, silk, bamboo and wool threads all feature in their work, mixing around 100 hand-dyed colour combinations, and it is the largest tapestry the family has ever created.

Their interpretation of the missing scene is based on a sketch by Amiens-born artist Hélène Delprat. The exact design will be shared at the project’s official unveiling in March 2027, but is believed to feature animals, trees and William the Conqueror’s white crown.

Exhibition planned

There are plans to exhibit the new scene at Westminster Abbey and then at the Château de Falaise (Calvados) – the birthplace of William the Conqueror, known as Guillaume le Conquérant in French. 

“Once completed, this missing piece is likely to travel around France, of course, but also England, Ireland, Denmark, Norway and Italy,” said Mr Guillot. 

The region of Normandy hopes the historic anniversary will be celebrated not only via events in France but further afield, with 2027 being designated L’Année européenne des Normands (the Year of the Normans in Europe). A series of thematic events, projects and collaborations are being organised to mark the occasion. 

“If we all come together to promote the same cultural and tourism offering worldwide, with a joint communication and marketing campaign, it will have an exceptional impact,” said Hervé Morin, president of the Normandy Region.

The initiative coincides with the loan of the original Bayeux Tapestry, to the British Museum from September 2026 until the summer of 2027, during a planned two-year closure of the Bayeux Tapestry Museum in Normandy for renovation.

Up to 80,000 people reportedly joined the British Museum’s online queue for tickets, and the first batch sold out. They were released on July 1, priced at £33 peak and £27 off-peak for adults.

It marked the biggest day of ticket sales in the museum’s history. Further tickets will be made available later this year. Prospective visitors are encouraged to sign up for email notifications. 

Storied history

The original tapestry, measuring nearly 70m long and 50cm high, depicts the events leading up to the Norman Conquest of England in 1066, led by William, Duke of Normandy, challenging Harold II, King of England, and culminating in the Battle of Hastings.

However, historians believe the work is incomplete – missing the scene that illustrates the moment William became King of England.

Despite its name, the tapestry is actually mostly embroided, with many of the linen cloths making up the piece containing guiding lines and sketches before stitching was layered on top. 

The exact origin of the tapestry remains unknown, however general consensus is that William the Conquerer's half-brother Odo (the Bishop of Bayeux) commissioned the work for the cathedral. Alternate theories include that it was created by William's wife Matilda and her ladies-in-waiting.

There is growing belief that the tapestry was actually made in England, and then shipped over to Normandy for the cathedral's consecration in 1077.

It had many functions: decoration for the cathedral, a gift for the King, and as propaganda for the Norman conquest of England - a persistent motif of the work.

During the French Revolution it was confiscated from the church and deemed public property to be used for covering military wagons. A lawyer rescued the tapestry and hid it for several years.

In 1803 it was taken by Napoleon Bonaparte to be displayed in Paris as part of plans to drum up support for an invasion of the UK.

When this plan was axed it was returned to Bayeux, however the local authorities refused to hand it back to the cathedral and instead displayed it for the public.

It was removed from public viewing in 1870 during the Franco-Prussian war due to fears of a Prussian invasion of Normandy before being restored.

Nazi interest

The tapestry was again threatened in World War Two, with Normandy the site of fierce battles from 1944 onwards.

The Gestapo (Nazi secret police) transported the tapestry from Normandy to the Louvre museum in Paris (formerly the Musée Napoléon, where the eponymous general had first displayed it).

When Nazi forces were leaving the city prior to the arrival of Allied troops, leader of the SS Heinrich Himmler sent a specific request for the tapestry to be taken 'to a secret location' (most likely Berlin) to escape it falling back into French hands. 

SS officials were too late in reaching the artifact, however, with the Louvre already in the hands of pro-French resistance fighters by August 22., 1944 

By August 25 (the day after French and Allied troops entered the city), the tapestry was back on display in the Louvre before being sent back to Bayeux in 1945 following the end of the war.

The Nazi's interest in the tapestry was again due to its propagandist elements - it showed a glorious military victory of the Normans, who were descended from the Vikings who settled in area in 911. 

This lineage made them a prime example of 'Aryan' supremacy for the Nazis, who sought to use artworks to prove the racial superiority of the Aryan race. 

With the case of the tapestry, perhaps they forgot that the Normans were invading an England ruled by Anglo-Saxons, another Germanic group…