Armenian Backgammon Set - Ararat, Khor Virap & Armenia Map

Armenian Backgammon Set - Ararat, Khor Virap & Armenia Map

This is the view every Armenian carries somewhere: Khor Virap monastery on its rocky hill, walls and dome cut stone by stone, and behind it the two peaks of Ararat rising over the plain. A master carved that whole landscape into the walnut lid of this backgammon set, framed it with scrolling leaves, and shaped the board itself with a sculpted, flowing edge, so nothing about it is a plain rectangle.

Open it and Armenia appears again: a map engraved into each half of the playing field, every province named in Armenian script, beneath points drawn as slender spearheads. Even the bronze hinges are engraved.

What's Included

• Folding walnut backgammon board with decorative bronze hinges and clasps
• 32 checkers turned from beech and walnut
• Dice and a carrying bag

Specifications

• Folded for storage: 30 x 60 cm (11.8 x 23.6 in)
• Open playing surface: 60 x 60 cm (23.6 x 23.6 in)
• Weight: 5 kg (11.0 lb)
• Material: Solid walnut wood with bronze hinges and clasps
• Hand-carved in Armenia

Why it stands out

For Armenians, Ararat is not scenery. It is memory, loss and home in one silhouette, and Khor Virap is where the nation's faith began. Having that view carved in walnut, with the map of the homeland waiting inside, turns a game of nardi into something closer to an evening in Armenia. Walnut is the wood masters save for their best work: heavier, darker, with a grain that moves like smoke under the finish.

Nothing here is printed or pressed. The stippled sky, the monastery brickwork, the fields radiating from the walls: every line is cut by hand, so no two boards leave the workshop identical. The set closes with bronze clasps into a sculpted case. A serious gift for a wedding, a new home, or anyone living far from the mountain.