70-meter 'Bayeux Tapestry,' embroidery depicting Norman conquest, goes online

The world-famous medieval Bayeux Tapestry may be off-limits to visitors because of the coronavirus pandemic, but its keepers have put a digital version online so the public can enjoy its fabled cloth from the safety of home.

At nearly 70 meters (77 yards) long, users may have to be skilled at using the scroll function of their computers.

The resolution is so clear in the online panorama that you can see the fibers of each stitch when you zoom in.

The Bayeux Tapestry is thought to date to the 11th century, and depicts events leading up to the Norman conquest of England, bringing the era to life in vivid — and sometimes bloody — detail.

Despite being so old, it has shown relatively little decomposition. However, a plan to fix wear and tear in its storytelling weave has been put in place in a planned 2024 restoration by the museum that houses it in the Normandy town of Bayeux.

National Georgraphic says what is now known as the Bayeux Tapestry is not, in fact, a tapestry at all, but an embroidery of woolen thread stitched on to cloth.

Ten colors create rich scenes that recount the story of the fateful clash between William and Harold: Scenes of pomp and diplomacy; a fleet of longboats filled with troops and supplies; and the fury of the battle itself, in which arrows fly and men and horses crash to the soil.

The only missing scene is the conclusion, the depiction of William’s coronation as the English king. Captions in Latin label key figures and events. Progressing from scene to scene like a comic strip, the upper and lower bands are richly decorated with marginalia: Scenes from the fables of Aesop or of the pleasures of the hunt.-AP/The Standard