Reading’s Bayeux Tapestry
diamondgeezer.blogspot.com76 points by zeristor 2 days ago
76 points by zeristor 2 days ago
On a related note here in England we also have the only known reproduction of the Sistine Chapel Ceiling in the world. It's a 2/3rds scale replica in a small plain looking church near Worthing on the south coast.
https://www.sistinechapeluk.co.uk/
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c4g2j1gv9e4o
https://english-martyrs.co.uk/our-church/visiting-us/sistine...
I saw the Bayeux tapestry in Bayeux in 1997. For 7 francs I got a 20 minute film that played alternately in English and French, as much time as I wanted to study a canvas replica, and a quickly moving line past the real thing behind plexiglass, wearing headphones that explained it that were coded for language with colored dots. Great experience. I was on a 6 week solo bike ride, and just before Bayeux I had been at the D-Day beaches 6 miles away ... another war almost 900 years later. And a few days earlier I had been on the mud flats at Mont St. Michel, the same ones that the tapestry (more of an embroidery) showed Harold rescuing a couple of soldiers from.
That sounds like a great experience. I doubt I'll ever make it there because I don't really like to travel, but the Bayeux tapestry is possibly my favorite historical artifact and I'm glad to hear they have such a good setup for showing it.
Those 6 weeks on a bike were amazing. It would have been a bit better if it hadn't been the worst summer weather in 130 years (I was told) ... there was a giant storm in the Atlantic that pummeled France (and me) with rain most of the time I was there. I developed a major case of bronchitis, but the French had good drugs.
I saw this. It was done by Victorian embroiderers, and was amazing, but the part I remember is one of the incidental characters. In the original, he was quite conspicuously nude; in the reproduction he was given a pair of shorts.
Yup, the article has images behind hyperlinks if you want to see him naked. Just Ctrl+f: "the original design with everything hanging out. "
Victorian embroiderers in 1088 when Odo, the Archbishop of Bayeux and half brother of William the Bastard/Conqueror, commissioned it to have it hung in the cathedral?
The tale was that it had been created by Queen Mathilde and her ladies in waiting, which of course was not true ... it was made by professional embroiderers, but long before the reign of Queen Victoria.
When Odo fell out of favor with William, the tapestry was folded and stored in a cedar box, opened each year for inventory. This is why it is so well preserved ... as opposed, for instance, to the massive Apocalypse Tapestry in Anjou that was used to protect orange orchards from frost.
> in the reproduction
The original is visible behind plexiglass in Bayeux. There is also a canvas reproduction -- I saw it in 1997 and don't recall whether it was bowdlerized.
P.S. Ah, I missed that it has been temporarily relocated from Bayeux to the British Museum. It will return to Bayeux within a year.
You also missed that this article is about the Victorian reproduction in Reading.
> Victorian embroiderers in 1088 when Odo, the Archbishop of Bayeux and half brother of William the Baster/Conqueror, commissioned it to have it hung in the cathedral?
They are talking about the subject of the story, which is a reproduction made in 1886.
Does nobody read the articles? The article is about a Victorian reproduction in Reading, England.
As an aside, I see that this blog has been around from early 2000s, and has been regularly updated, almost every day. Quite fascinating...
Alive internet theory
Out of interest, how do people find these "hidden gem" sites? I'd never find these from google
He is popular on HN: https://news.ycombinator.com/from?site=diamondgeezer.blogspo...
Jesus, you're not wrong. Click any random month from the last 20 years and there's a post from practically every day
Last year me and my friend went to Normandy and stayed in Bayeux. It was a beautiful experience to stay in the medieval town of Bayeux with some of the old buildings and roads still preserved. The cathedral where this tapestry was stored before moving to the museum was built in the 11th century and has some beautiful gothic architecture and stained glass windows. From Bayeux you are also a very short ride from the Normandy beaches of d-day and Mont St. Michel.
The Bayeux Tapestry - all of it, from start to finish
Textile art enjoyers of HN may also like the https://www.greattapestryofscotland.com/ (near the ruins of Melrose Abbey), or the https://www.quaker-tapestry.co.uk/ (conveniently located in Kendal for visitors to the Lakes)
The original Bayeux tapestry is a remarkable artefact though, simply because so little art has survived from that period let alone fabrics. I wonder what the original expected lifetime of a wall tapestry was, especially in great halls warmed by open fires.
Someone should do a graphic novel version of the Bayeux tapestry based heavily on the original.
That fanfic ending of the Bayeux Tapestry in Reading is an obvious Victorian fabrication. The original depicts the c-base space station crashing on earth. It can be viewed in Berlin:
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What's up with the internet's sudden obsession with the Bayeux Tapestry? I've seen so many posts lately here and on reddit and other places.
It's the first time since the tapestry was made nearly 1,000 years ago that it has returned to the UK, they are refurbishing the museum in France I believe. It was a very complex and delicate process to get it here and there was quite a lot of opposition to the loan.
It's also a record of a very significant point in British history, it was the last successful invasion and influenced large parts of our culture, language, and architecture.
There is a BBC documentary covering the move and information about the tapestry at https://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/mediapacks/secrets-of-the-...
It's on loan to the British Museum, so is on Britain for the first time in nearly a millennium.
Because it's a gorgeous piece of history. I have a paper reproduction that is 30m long. Yes, 30meters or I guess like 100 feet? From Citadelles et Mazenot edition, gorgeous books.