The Isle of Lewis Chessmen

The most extraordinary chess find of all time, 59 chessmen (plus a few pawns), from the Isle of Lewis, Scotland. About the great discovery, the pieces, and the reproductions

Category:

Education

Tags:

• Chess
• chessmen
• Isle of Lewis
• Lewis
• Scotland
• archeology
• chess history
• AncientChess.com
• Ancient Chess
• Chess Set

[AncientChess]

Someone commented that the Lewis chessmen may have come from Muslim Spain. I've never seen that idea before, and don't know if there's any evidence for that. It's not unlikely that the Vikings got the game of chess itself from contact with Islam, but the style of these chessmen is found mostly in northern Germany and Scandinavia.

[AncientChess]

There are some good shots of the actual chessmen going around the internet now that the exhibit is on at the Cloisters in New York. If you google around a bit, you'll probably find some great stuff.

[AncientChess]

Thanks for the comment. I would be happy to hear about your research. Everyone viewing this should be notified:

THE ISLE OF LEWIS CHESSMEN ARE ON DISPLAY AT THE CLOISTERS MUSEUM, NEW YORK, NOW THROUGH APRIL 2011.

[AncientChess]

Trondheim is in Norway. Sorry if there was any confusion in the presentation. Probably made in Trondheim, Norway and found on Isle of Lewis, Scotland. Yep.

[iorixs]

they might have come from muslim spain

[LuxusOhr]

Very nice and interesting video! Never saw the pieces so close, but i changed my laptop logon screen and logo with pictures of the Lewis Chessman, they are so special :-)

[vespersongs]

Heard about this on NPR--so neat to find this video. I'm planning an illustration research trip to Lewis next year.

[MsOneiroi77]

Trondheim isnt in Scotland

[MrIsaac2020]

Interesting my website in my profile has lots of pictures of the area where they were found, the exact location is kept a secret.

[falloutshit]

very interesting video and a very beautyful set