“IN 1515 Pope Leo X commissioned Raphael to create a series of designs for tapestries that would hang on the low walls of the Sistine Chapel, beneath Michelangelo’s ceiling. It was an exceptionally important commission, which ultimately cost the pope five times what was paid for the overhead painting. Tapestry weaving is slow, labour-intensive work, and these were big—about 10×13 feet—and heavy with threads of gold. There were ten in all, woven in Brussels. These “Acts of the Apostles” tapestries and Raphael’s full-scale drawings of their designs (called cartoons), have since gained great fame. But in five centuries no one has ever seen them together, including Leo and Raphael. The tapestries went to Rome, and still hang in the Sistine Chapel on feast days. The cartoons stayed in Brussels, where other copies were made. In 1623 the future Charles I bought them, and they’ve been in the royal collection ever since. It was Queen Victoria who loaned the seven surviving cartoons to the Victoria & Albert Museum, which is where they’ve stayed.”  

http://www.economist.com/blogs/prospero/2010/09/raphaels_tapestries.