Newly Rediscovered, a Missing Fragment of the Bayeux Tapestry Is Returning to France

A missing fragment of the Bayeux Tapestry was discovered in the state archives of Schleswig-Holstein, Germany’s northernmost state, more than 80 years after Nazi researchers stole it from occupied France during World War II.

The find came from the collection of Karl Schlabow, a renowned textile archaeologist who worked with an SS-organized group of academics and scientists to study Germanic heritage and dredge up support for racist pseudoscientific theories, reports Stuttgarter Zeitung’s Markus Brauer.

Under the command of SS chief Heinrich Himmler, the Ahnenerbe group commissioned Schlabow and other scientists to travel to occupied France and study the Bayeux Tapestry in 1941. At some point, a member of the group apparently removed a small section of the underside of the tapestry and brought it back to Germany, where it remained hidden for decades.

The 230-foot-long tapestry—which is, in fact, an embroidered cloth from the 11th century that was probably intended to decorate a local cathedral—is an iconic part of France’s cultural heritage, as well as a UNESCO Memory of the World object.

In colorful detail, the Bayeux Tapestry depicts the epic story of how William, Duke of Normandy, better known as William the Conqueror, became king of England in 1066.

The tale begins in 1064, with Edward the Confessor, the dying king of England, instructing his brother-in-law Harold Godwinson to travel to Normandy to offer the throne to William, a distant cousin, according to the Bayeux Tapestry Museum, which houses the artwork.

Upon Edward’s death in early 1066, Harold crowned himself king instead, leading William to cross the English Channel and fight to reclaim his throne.

All of this drama is captured in the embroidery, including Edward’s conversation with Harold, the wind guiding the sails on William’s ships toward England and the appearance of Halley’s Comet above the battlefield. On England’s shores, the tapestry shows horses, dogs and men engaged in brutal combat. The bottom of the tapestry is littered with casualties.

But the story ends abruptly with the English fleeing William and his conquerors after the Battle of Hastings in October 1066. William’s coronation as William I of England is absent, with the whereabouts of the panels depicting this moment unknown, writes Tim Brinkhof for Artnet. Experts believe the tapestry is missing between eight and ten feet of fabric.

For centuries, the remaining 230 feet of the tapestry have resided in Bayeux, a town of some 12,000 residents in Normandy, France.

The embroidered fabric has only left town twice since its creation in the 11th century. For a few months during the winter of 1803 to 1804, Napoleon Bonaparte showed the tapestry at the Napoleon Museum, as the Louvre was briefly known during the French emperor’s reign. He hoped to curry support for a proposed invasion of England.

During World War II, France’s Nazi occupiers moved the tapestry to the inland Sarthe region in 1941, then back to the Louvre in 1944 to insulate it from the Allied invasion of Normandy.

It was during this period of Nazi interest in the tapestry that a member of the Ahnenerbe removed a small section from its underside and brought it back to Germany.

While it is not part of the coronation scene—which has been missing since long before World War II—the Schlabow fragment is still a valuable piece of France’s history.

German authorities are working to repatriate the stolen section back to France later this year, just in time for the start of the Bayeux Tapestry’s next chapter.

Starting on August 31, 2025, the tapestry will leave public view for two years as it undergoes restoration work. The space where the embroidery is housed will also be revamped, with an “inclined support” added to the display, per CNN’s Maureen O’Hare. The museum will reopen in late 2027, just in time for the 1,000th anniversary of William the Conqueror’s birth in 1028.

“In terms of economic and cultural influence, this is the most complex and ambitious project … ever undertaken by the Town of Bayeux,” says Mayor Patrick Gomont in a statement, citing the roughly $40 million price tag for the renovation and preservation efforts.

With the stolen Schlabow fragment returned to its rightful context, the tattered tapestry will be one piece closer to completion.

Eli Wizevich | | READ MORE

Eli Wizevich is a history correspondent for Smithsonian. He studied history at the University of Chicago and previously wrote for the El Paso Times.