In a Belfast museum, seamstresses with glittering red and gold threads bring the latest touches to a huge tapestry designed to pay homage to the Game of Thrones phenomenon.
"An excellent storytelling tool"
This tapestry, 90 meters long, is the embroidered story of the eight seasons of the medieval-fantasy series, shot in Belfast and the worldwide success, which tells the story of families fighting to rule the fictional world of Westeros. The sections of the tapestry representing the first seven seasons have already been completed. Once the eighth finished, the work will be exhibited in France in September alongside the famous tapestry of Bayeux, which imitates the style and tells the conquest of England in the 11th century on 70 meters of embroidery.
"A tapestry is above all an excellent storytelling tool," says Valerie Wilson, costume and textile curator at the National Museums of Northern Ireland. "The length of the tapestry allows the story to unfold, so in many ways it's the perfect medium to tell the story of the Game of Thrones project."
Two years of work and 30 volunteers
If the tapestry was mostly machine-woven, it took two volunteers 30 years to embroider the finishes: the blood red in the scene of the purple wedding, the emerald green of the Greek fire or the ice blue of the White Walkers , all essential elements in the imagery of the saga. A visual result so successful that the museum advises against visiting minors.
Like the actors in the series, the volunteers had to sign a confidentiality agreement. "It was crucial that at the launch of the project" completed with the eight seasons, "there is a new element, almost surprised," said AFP Valerie Wilson.