A stitch in time: Tapestry immortalizes ‘Game of Thrones’
BAYEUX, FRANCE >> 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 on Sunday, 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.
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 a suburb of Boston, said as she pored over the tapestry this week. “They did a nice job — great color, great detail.”
At 87 meters (285 feet), the tapestry is longer than the width of a soccer pitch and longer than the famous 11th-century Bayeux Tapestry that recounts the Norman invasion of England in 1066. That tapestry served as an inspiration for the “Game of Thrones” 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. Its “Game of Thrones” sites are already a big draw, attracting 350,000 visitors in 2018 alone.
“We consider the Bayeux Tapestry as the grandmother of our ‘Game of Thrones’ tapestry,” said Séverine Lecart, director of marketing in France for Tourism Ireland.
Obvious parallels between the two tapestries include the embroidery styles, colors and structures. Both are divided into three segments, with their central storylines running through the middle bordered by smaller panels displaying motifs like winged beasts or weaponry. The two works evoke similar themes of violent conquest and feudal loyalties.