Jo Lawson-Tancred, Can You Insure a National Treasure? Bayeux Tapestry Loan Sparks $1.1 Billion Debate, Art Net, 9 January 2026
Ahead of the 950-year-old artifact’s visit to the U.K., art historians are raising concerns about its “unsuitable” insurance cover.
France’s historic loan of the Bayeux Tapestry to the British Museum may be one of this year’s most highly-anticipated exhibitions, but it has also been beset by controversy. Chief among these is the question of whether it is possible to safely transport such a fragile, 950-year-old textile. The issue came to a head this week as art historians raised their concerns about the suitability of the loan’s $1.1 billion insurance cover.
The proposed figure of £800 million ($1.1 billion) is based on a provisional estimate of the Bayeux Tapestry’s value. The coverage will be provided by the U.K.’s longstanding Government Indemnity Scheme, which allows the British Treasury to directly insure works loaned to non-profit institutions in order to save on commercial insurance costs. The sum has yet to be signed off by the U.K.’s chief finance minister Rachel Reeves.
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