UK government insures Bayeux Tapestry for 800m during loan to British Museum

"The artefact, created in the 1070s, will be covered under the Government Indemnity Scheme (GIS) which, according to a government website, is overseen by the UK department for culture, media and sport (DCMS). The scheme, backed by UK taxpayers, "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"."

"Details revealed in the six-page "administrative agreement" between the French and UK culture ministries about the tapestry exhibition include organising a dry run of the transfer to London using a crate "containing a facsimile of the tapestry equipped with a vibration analysis device". The tapestry will reportedly finally come to London in a truck via the Channel Tunnel. The Bayeux Tapestry, which depicts the 1066 Norman invasion and Battle of Hastings,"

The UK Treasury has provisionally approved an estimated £800m valuation to insure the Bayeux Tapestry while it is transferred from Normandy and exhibited at the British Museum. Coverage will be provided under the Government Indemnity Scheme (GIS), overseen by DCMS and backed by UK taxpayers, which enables high-value cultural objects to be shown publicly and saves museums an estimated £81m a year versus commercial insurance. A six-page administrative agreement between French and UK culture ministries requires a dry run using a facsimile in a crate with a vibration analysis device. The tapestry will travel by truck via the Channel Tunnel and be displayed at the British Museum from next September until July 2027 while the Bayeux museum is renovated.

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