Historic Royal Palaces
Collections Care
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Continued from page 1

ABOVE: A tapestry gets a wet cleaning in the Textile Conservation Studio.

Henry VIII commissioned the 10 Abraham tapestries for the Great Hall 500 years ago. It is said that each tapestry cost the equivalent of building, fitting out, and staffing a modern-day battleship.

The Abraham tapestries are one of the most sumptuous tapestry ensembles to survive from any period. The prodigious amount of gold used in the tapestries distinguishes them as one of the most opulent products of the Brussels industry of this or any other period.

Tapestries were made almost exclusively by men, including the dyeing of the yarns and the weaving itself. Embroidery was much more a female occupation.

At the time of Henry VIII's death, the English Royal Collection of tapestries numbered more than 2,000, including more than 200 "gold-rich" tapestries.

If all the tapestries at Hampton Court Palace were to be laid out, they would cover an area equivalent to six tennis courts.

Specialist surveys calculate that it will take 126 human years to conserve the palace's historic tapestry collection--by which time repeat treatment is expected to be required.

Washing a tapestry takes around 8,000 liters of water. This seems a lot, but a tapestry will need a wash every 80 to 100 years at most. If a person has a bath every day for 80 years, he or she will use 5,256,000 liters of water--657 times as much.

Next page: Salvage team at Kensington Palace

In this article:

General facts and figures

Tapestries at Hampton Court Palace

Salvage team at Kensington Palace

Also see:

Textile Conservation Studio at Hampton Court Palace

Hampton Court Palace - 8-page travel article

Other London travel articles at Europe for Visitors