After 900 years, the Bayeux Tapestry returns to England and goes on display in London

The scene depicting King Harold's death on the Bayeux Tapestry at the British Museum in London. The Bayeux Tapestry is an embroidered cloth nearly 230 feet long that depicts the events leading up to the Norman Conquest of England in 1066, led by William the Conqueror, challenging Harold II, King of England, and culminating in the Battle of Hastings. ADRIAN DENNIS/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

LONDON — In England, students memorize one date above all else: 1066.

It was the year of the Battle of Hastings, at the start of the Norman Conquest, an epic invasion from France, when William the Conqueror crossed the English Channel with an army of Norman soldiers of Viking descent and killed England's Anglo-Saxon King Harold II with an arrow through his eye.

The battle changed England's language, ethnic makeup and rulers. King Charles III is a descendant of the victors. People joke that 1066 is the country's most-used PIN number. It's in an advertising jingle for a famous brand of car insurance, among other things.

The oldest depiction of 1066's events is on a medieval tapestry sewn in England but whisked away to France in the late 11th century, where it's been ever since. It's normally displayed in a small museum in Bayeux, Normandy.

But after years of diplomacy, the tapestry was transferred this summer to London, on loan while renovations are underway at the French museum where it's usually kept. On Thursday, the Bayeux Tapestry went on public display at the British Museum as the centerpiece of a sold-out, 10-month temporary exhibition.

People queue to enter the British Museum in London on Thursday, the first day of the Bayeux Tapestry exhibition. HENRY NICHOLLS/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

The Bayeux Tapestry is a piece of narrative embroidery — wool thread sewn into linen panels — with surprisingly bright colors, despite its age. It's about 20 inches high and nearly 230 feet long . That's about as long as a 747 airliner, or about 2.5 times the length of a blue whale.