The famous Bayeux Tapestry, created in the eleventh century for Bishop Odo, brother of William the Conqueror, will leave France for an exhibition at the British Museum

Historically, the tapestry (in essence a piece of linen embroidery almost 70 metres long) has been kept in the Norman town of Bayeux as a monument to the Norman conquest of England. The other day a French court permitted the temporary transportation of this fragile relic to Great Britain, despite the objections of experts about the critical condition of the cloth.

The tapestry, with its scenes of William the Conqueror's campaign and the Battle of Hastings in 1066, will leave the country while the museum in Bayeux is being rebuilt. In exchange, Anglo-Saxon antiquities will be sent over, including finds from Sutton Hoo, the richest hoard of Anglo-Saxon artefacts of the seventh century, discovered in 1939 in Suffolk. An association for the preservation of historical heritage tried to challenge the authorities' decision on the cultural exchange, citing the fragility of the fabric, but the expert assessment commissioned for the court found the transportation permissible, and the highest court of France rejected the complaint.