The Latest Breaking News from the British Museum

Sheila Canby obituary

American art historian and museum curator with a special focus on Iran and the Islamic world

The Guardian - UK · Oct 14, 2025

British Museum in £3.5m appeal to save Tudor Heart pendant linked to Henry VIII

The 24 carat gold artefact was discovered in a Warwickshire field by a metal detectorist in 2019.

Evening Standard · Oct 14, 2025

Nordic Noir review – one severed horse’s head is just not nearly enough noir

While some prints are suitably nasty, these mostly so-so drawings feel more like something you’d see in Ikea. Who thought they were worthy of purchase for the nation?

The Guardian - UK · Oct 7, 2025

Bayeux Tapestry ‘begins secret journey to the UK from France’ after delay due to strikes

The temporary transfer of the eleventh century work has sparked outrage in France

The Independent UK · Sep 20, 2025

Rest assured, the Bayeux tapestry will be transported here safely

Letters: British Museum director Nicholas Cullinan describes the intricate planning that has been taking place. But Mark Vaughan thinks an animated display would be better

The Guardian - UK · Sep 5, 2025

Why the Norman conquest still has a powerful hold over British culture and politics

Britain appears to be a nation on the verge of Norman-conquest mania. In July, the prime minister and the French president announced that the Bayeux tapestry – the epic 11th-century embroidery that depicts the 1066 conquest of England – would be loaned to the British Museum in 2026-27.

The Conversation · Sep 4, 2025

Bath’s Holburne museum to unveil ‘art chamber’ of Renaissance masterpieces

Museum’s basement becomes £2m ‘kunstkammer’ full of Schroder family’s exquisite silverware, paintings, bronzes and ceramics

The Guardian - UK · Sep 2, 2025

Bayeux Tapestry loan labelled ‘heritage crime’ amid damage concerns

It is part of a cultural exchange announced by French President Emmanuel Macron and Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer when they met in July.

Evening Standard · Aug 31, 2025

Bayeux Tapestry: Thousands rally against ‘catastrophic’ move of 1,000-year-old relic from France to London

More than 64,000 people have signed a petition calling on Emmanuel Macron to revoke the loan of a 1,000-year-old tapestry to London

The Independent UK · Aug 30, 2025

‘La tapisserie, c’est moi’: Macron accused of putting politics first in Bayeux tapestry loan

Organiser of petition says French president ignoring expert advice that artefact too fragile to be transported to UK

The Guardian - UK · Aug 30, 2025