Lewis Chessmen on Stornoway

Lewis Chessmen in the British Museum © David Gill

It is good to see that some of the Lewis Chessmen will be on show in Museum nan Eilean, Stornoway (15 April-12 September 2011). Some of the pieces from Edinburgh and the British Museum will be on display.

This raises several interesting issues. Should the pieces be displayed in the Outer Hebrides where they were found? Or in the British Museum, far removed from their findspot? Or in Edinburgh? 


And do they belong culturally to Scandinavia?



Whatever the issues, it is a momentous decision to see the pieces back in the Hebrides.