The many mysteries and lessons of the Bayeux tapestry
economist.comThe tapestry is really neat as a piece of... propaganda, for lack of a better term. I don't mean that negatively, but just that that's the closest term that I can think of for it. I saw it in Bayeux a couple years ago and was struck by how it's written almost like a comic book so that the general public (illiterate at the time) would be able to learn this history. Like, of course, history written by the victors, the tapestry's not necessarily the truth, but just the techniques used to convey its message almost a thousand years ago were surprisingly similar
Conservators use a precise tracking system to ensure that the total amount of light the artefact receives does not exceed a safe annual threshold. These limits are essential for ensuring that the tapestry remains in a condition suitable for future generations to study and admire.
Still, a private viewing and light exposure for Peter Thiel, who isn't even a patron of the British Museum, doesn't seem to be a problem.
https://www.londondaily.news/british-museum-faces-questions-...
I would qualify that as X-rated propaganda.
https://www.historyextra.com/period/medieval/bayeux-tapestry...
https://www.medievalists.net/2012/11/who-was-the-mysterious-...
Most people couldn't read. It's the same reason why Catholics have all these statues.
In the 16th century a sizeable literate middle class in combination with book printing changed Western civilization profoundly.
>The tapestry is really neat as a piece of... propaganda, for lack of a better term.
Honestly, I've been hearing so much about the Bayeux tapestry lately, that I'd almost believe that someone is being paid to promote it.
Once you know about it, there's also a lot of symbolic shorthand for recognition and the like.
For anybody wondering what this is about... It’s a newspaper article about a famous old artwork coming back to London from France for the first time in 950 years, with some musing about how history gets distorted over time (history is written by the winners and all that).
Honoring a beloved medieval art historian professor of mine:
"It's more properly the Bayeux Embroidery"
A lot of articles in the British press about this at the moment, due to it having travelled to London.
If you desire accompaniment whilst you study the Tapestry, and/or a bullet list of early modern and medieval history, may I recommend the bardcore stylings of Friar Funk and Hildegard von Blingin: https://youtu.be/drDs-Y5DNH8?is=mVqtUdKX9GwNWCqY
TIL: bardcore is a music genre. Thank you.
Low stakes conspiracy: the high-security operation to move the tapestry to London was actually cover for the simultaneous movement of gold from European nations as part of their recent hedge against US counterparty risk.