Tens of thousands rush for tickets to see Bayeux Tapestry in UK

Tens of thousands of people faced long waits to buy the first tickets to see the Bayeux Tapestry when it goes on display at the British Museum in September.

The 11th Century embroidery, which depicts the Norman conquest of England in 1066, is being loaned to the UK while its usual home, the Bayeux Museum in Normandy, undergoes a major renovation.

The 70m-long masterpiece will go on display in London for 10 months - the first time the tapestry has been exhibited on British soil.

More than 65,000 people joined in the online queue after the first batch of tickets were released at 10:00 BST on Wednesday.

Some social media users said they had spent hours in the virtual queue only for their request to time out, but others said they had secured tickets successfully.

Before tickets went on sale, the British Museum said it had been "expecting huge demand and interest".

The museum's director Dr Nicholas Cullinan told BBC Radio 4's Today programme on Wednesday that the tapestry's arrival in the UK was an "incredible event".

Dr Cullinan said great care would be taken to protect the embroidery during its visit, and that British ticket buyers would have the rare opportunity to see it at its full length.

"It will be laid flat, which is the best way to show it in terms of conservation, but the other thing that's very exciting is it will be shown in one long line.

"This is the first time in centuries that people will be able to see the entire length of the tapestry."

The embroidery will be transported in the coming weeks via the Eurotunnel, and will go on display in a specially manufactured glass case.

Adult tickets to see the tapestry at the British Museum are priced at £33 during peak times and £27 at off-peak times.

Those prices are almost triple the €12 that it normally costs visitors to see the tapestry in Normandy.

Dr Cullinan told Today the exhibition was "really expensive exhibition for us to put on as a charity, and so we do need to recoup those funds".

"The majority of tickets are off-peak, so they're less, and all children under 16 will see it for free," he said.

"We felt it was very important to make this something that all young people have access to."

Members of the public who are not successful in the first ticket release will have two further chances when more tickets go on sale in October and January.

Slots will reportedly be time-limited by the museum in order to maximise the number of visitors able to see the tapestry.

More than six million people visit the British Museum every year. The most successful exhibition in its history was 1972's Treasures of Tutankhamun, which attracted 1.69 million visitors.

Concern has previously been expressed about possible damage to the delicate tapestry during its journey to the UK.

But the Telegraph reported that two test runs have taken place to assess the level of vibration the embroidery will be exposed to, and that these have been a success.

The artwork will reportedly occupy a train of its own, emptied of everyone except conservators and guards, and a police escort will be provided on both sides of the Channel.