The British Museum expects "huge demand" for its exhibition of the Bayeux Tapestry, its director said on Wednesday, as tickets went on sale to see the 11th-century artwork that is returning to England from France for the first time in nearly 1,000 years.
People across Britain are seizing the chance to see the tapestry depicting the 1066 Norman conquest of England on home turf, Nicholas Cullinan told BBC Radio.
"It will be with us fairly soon, so it's very exciting," he said, as tens of thousands of people joined a virtual line to buy tickets online.
While the precise origins of the 70-meter-long (230-foot-long) Bayeux Tapestry are obscure, it is believed to have been the work of English embroiderers, but it has been in France for the last 950 years.
The details of how the now fragile wool and linen tapestry will be transported to the British Museum in central London from its home at Bayeux in northwestern France are being kept secret, but Cullinan said it would travel via the Channel tunnel. France confirmed that the museum could borrow the tapestry last July during French President Emmanuel Macron's state visit to Britain as the guest of King Charles. The loan of such a cultural treasure is seen as a sign of closer ties between the countries after the discord caused by the 2016 Brexit vote.
