The Bayeux Tapestry is not actually a tapestry, but an embroidered cloth of wool yarn on linen, which is 18 inches wide and more than 224 feet long. It depicts the events leading up to and including the Norman conquest of England. The earliest reference to the tapestry is found in an inventory in Bayeux Cathedral from 1476, although the origins of the tapestry are disputed and there are numerous theories as to who commissioned it and who created it. The style of the embroidery suggests that it was created in England, although it tells the story of the invasion from the Norman perspective. The tapestry is currently housed at the William the Conqueror Centre in Bayeux, Normandy, France.
The Cloth of St. Gereon is the oldest known European tapestry, dating to the early 11th century. It features repeat patterns of roundels enclosing a bull being attacked by a griffin. It's thought to have been made in Cologne, Germany and takes its name from St. Gereon Basilica in the city, where it once hung. In the 19th century it was cut into four, 2.5-foot pieces and distributed to the Musée des Arts Décoratifs de Lyon, the Kunstgewerbe Museum in Berlin, Germanisches National Museum in Nuremberg and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. Dr. Franz Bock, a curator of Christian art, is responsible for cutting the tapestry into pieces, and became infamous for desecrating works of art by cutting them up and selling them for profit.
The longest tapestry in the world is the Apocalypse Tapestry, which was created between 1375 and 1382 by Robert Poincon and Nicolas Bataille for Louis I d'Anjou. The tapestry depicts biblical scenes of the end of times from the Book of Revelation. Originally 459 feet long, the surviving 300 feet are currently housed in its own museum within the Chateau d'Angers
The Sampul Tapestry was discovered in a mass grave in the Sampul region of western China, on the ancient Silk Road, in the 2nd to 3rd century B.C. It depicts what's thought to be a Greek soldier and a centaur. When it was found it had, curiously, been made into a pair of pants. The tapestry is on display at the Xinjiang Museum in Urumqi, China. Its existence confirms the early contacts between the Chinese world and the Hellenistic kingdoms of Central Asia.