The History of the Apocalypse Tapestry

Commissioned by Louis I and completed in 1382, the massive Apocalypse Tapestry is a visual representation of the book of Revelation. Today, Stephen Nichols discusses the creation of this masterpiece and its eventual restoration after surviving damage during the French War.

Welcome back to another episode of 5 Minutes in Church History. Here is something that is definitely on my list of things to see and places to visit: the Chateau d’Angers. If you find Paris on a map, go directly southwest and about two thirds of the way to the coast, you’ll come to this castle, the Chateau d’Angers. It is the ancestral home of the Dukes of Anjou of the House of Valois. This was quite a dynasty in medieval France, and one of these dukes, Louis I, commissioned a tapestry. It took five years to make. Thirty-five, both French and Belgian weavers, to make and Jean Bondol the court artist for the King of France to create. Then this tapestry got delivered to Louis I. It was big, I mean very big. Many, many panels. Each panel was 20 feet in height, and in total they stretched out 450 feet long. That’s one and a half football fields long.

Now, the dukes had great wealth. They had big castles, but even so, there was not a room anywhere in Louis I's castle where he could hang this. And even if he hung it in all of the rooms of his castle, he would not be able to display all of it. So historians believe that it was displayed for outdoor viewing. Large wooden panel walls would be constructed, roofs would be built, and the tapestry would be hung in a long line so viewers could walk along and see these scenes. It would be temporarily displayed for fairs and festivals, and even for the weddings of Louis I’s children. One viewer wrote, “No man can express in words the richness, the beauty, the nobility of this tapestry. It was stunning, overwhelming, breathtaking.” Obviously, it was a display of the Duke of Anjou’s wealth and status, but historians also think it reinforced the House of Valois during the Hundred Years War, that long intermittent series of battles and conflicts between France and England.

So, what was on all of these panels? What did this tapestry depict? Well, it depicted the Apocalypse of John. The tapestry is one long visual display of the various scenes and episodes from the book of Revelation. Now, we can see the connection to reinforcing the House Valois as Revelation depicts the battles and the ultimate victory of God and the forces of righteousness over and against the antichrist and the forces of evil. So, most assuredly France will prevail against England.

Well, be that as it may, let’s take a deeper look at the tapestry’s history. It was completed in 1382. It was displayed, as we mentioned, outdoors from time to time for the next century. And then in 1480, it was moved to the cathedral at Angers by one of the later dukes. It couldn’t be displayed fully there either, but parts of it were displayed and various parts were displayed from time to time.

Others were gifted to different people and sent around France. But the whole thing mostly remained at the cathedral until the time of the French Revolution. Then it was taken out, panels were carted off, some were lost, some were destroyed, many were damaged, and pretty much all of it was scattered about until the 1900s. A massive restoration was undertaken of the Chateau d’Angers, the ancestral home of these dukes, and plans were made to make a central hall and turn that into a grand canvas on which could be displayed all of these panels. And for the first time, the Apocalypse Tapestry could be seen indoors. So it was all gathered and displayed there in the castle right around 1950. Well, it took over five years to make, so I think this tapestry deserves more than five minutes. Join me next week, and we’ll spend more time on this tapestry. That’s the Apocalypse Tapestry, part one. And I’m Steve Nichols. Thanks for listening to 5 Minutes in Church History.