A stitch in time: Tapestry immortalises
GOT
tapestry depicts major scenes from all eight seasons of the TV series in 285 feet of embroidery FAMOUSLY, ARYA STARK always preferred her sword Needle to needlework. Still, even she would be impressed with the giant tapestry now on show in France that recounts the plot of Game of Thrones in glorious and, of course, gory and salacious detail.
With the award-winning saga about power struggles in mythical Westeros poised for more success at the Emmy Awards tonight, the tapestry’s unveiling this month in the Normandy town of Bayeux could hardly be better-timed. The show’s 32 nominations broke a single-year record. It got nods for Outstanding Drama Series, Lead Actress, Supporting Actress and Actor, among other categories. Fans who have flocked in their thousands to see the embroidered artwork are giving it a thumbs-up. “It’s fantastic. You can see kind of the story, how it all lays out,” Amanda Zides, visiting from Boston, said. “They did a nice job – great colour, great detail.”
At 285 feet, the tapestry is longer than the width of a soccer pitch and longer than the 11th-century Bayeux Tapestry that recounts the Norman invasion of England in 1066. That tapestry served as an inspiration for the GOT lookalike.
The work was commissioned by the tourism office of Northern Ireland, where HBO filmed many of the scenes. Irish officials hope the Bayeux exhibit will boost tourism to Northern Ireland.
“We consider the Bayeux Tapestry as the grandmother of our GOT tapestry,” said Séverine Lecart, director of marketing in France for Tourism Ireland.
The tapestry begins with fictional King Robert Baratheon visiting the Stark family in Winterfell and ends with the final scenes from the eighth and last season. It took a 30-strong team of volunteer embroiderers in Northern Ireland nearly four months to stitch the tapestry in 2017, adding final scenes after GOT finished airing in May.