Beauvais has been a centre of tapestry production since the Middle Ages, and Louis XIV formalised this in 1664 when he established the Manufacture Royale de Beauvais. For three centuries the Beauvais manufactory — alongside the Gobelins in Paris — supplied the royal court and European aristocracy with flatweave tapestries of exceptional quality. The factory was destroyed in the 1940 bombing and relocated to Paris, but the city's tapestry heritage is celebrated at the Galerie Nationale de la Tapisserie, a small dedicated museum immediately south of the cathedral.
The permanent collection displays examples of Beauvais production from the 17th century through to modern commissions. Tapestries are large, expensive, and fragile — the displays are intimate rather than overwhelming. Rotating exhibitions highlight themes in weaving history or contemporary tapestry art. This is a specialist interest, but the best pieces are technically dazzling, and the context of the cathedral's own tapestry collection (visible inside the church) makes the visit rewarding.