Chessmen go back to Scotland on Extended loan

The Lewis chessmen are finally on the march back to Scotland to be reunited with their fellow chess pieces for the first time in more than a century – 30 of the 93 pieces at least.

The pieces will tour Scotland after the Scottish Nationalist Party (SNP) government offered to pay £75000 towards the cost of a new joint exhibition and will be on loan from the British Museum in London, which currently own 82 of the pieces. The remaining 11 pieces (93 in total) are on display at the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh.

For many years Scottish nationalist have sought the return of the chess pieces and for the past two years a political battle has brewed around the return of the pieces, along with other Scottish historical artefacts, with the SNP seeking their repatriation. The Scottish culture minister, Michael Russell, said that the SNP firmly believed that all the pieces belonged in Scotland and would continue to seek the return of the entire set. Minister Russell said that he believed that the decision to return 30 of the Lewis chessmen to Scotland showed that the British Museum was prepared to compromise on the issue and called it «a useful step».

The chess pieces, believed to be Norwegian in origin and over 800 years old, were discovered on a sand dune at Uig beach on the west side of Isle of Lewis in 1831. The set was broken up after it was exhibited by the Scottish Society of Antiquities in 1831, which could not afford to buy the pieces. An Edinburgh dealer then sold the pieces for 80 guineas to the British Museum.

The Lewis chessmen are not the only historical artefacts from the Celtic countries that the British Museum accommodates. The Chronicles of Man for example are also housed at the British Museum, and in 2008, the Celtic League unsuccessfully approached the SNP government to launch a joint campaign to repatriate other artefacts being housed at the British Museum from the other Celtic nations.

The chessmen tour of Scotland will run until 2012 and will finish with a five-month exhibition at Museum nan Eilean, in Stornoway.

J B Moffatt Director of Information Celtic League

07/10/09