Battle-scarred: A tapestry on war that still stirs trouble

I first encountered the Bayeux Tapestry at the Musée de la Tapisserie de Bayeux in Normandy, France, in a room so dimly lit that even the bulbs seemed to be whispering.

- Rishad Saam Mehta

The embroidery looped around the gallery walls almost in a single sentence. The Bayeux Tapestry is not something that reveals itself in a glance. Photography is forbidden because the brilliance of a flash could potentially damage the ancient fibres of the embroidery. While it has been called a tapestry, it is not one in the technical sense. Rather this fabric, nearly 70 metres long and half-a-metre high, is linen embroidered with wool. It tells the story of events leading up to the infamous Saturday in October 1066 which marked the Norman conquest of England.

The fabric, comprising 58 scenes and 626 characters, shows William the Conqueror taking the throne from Harold Godwinson, becoming the first Norman king. What makes the Bayeux Tapestry irresistible is not simply the story but the relish with which it is told. The horses look perpetually startled, as if history keeps happening to them without warning. The fabric is populated with images of armours, feasting, shipbuilding, battlefield tactics—all of this unfolds with the clarity of a graphic novel.