Luxury Armenian Backgammon Set Hand Carved - Artsakh Monument

Luxury Armenian Backgammon Set Hand Carved - Artsakh Monument, by Hrachya Ohanyan

Two heads rising out of the rock, and a mountain rising out of the board. In a round rope-ringed frame on the cover, master Hrachya Ohanyan carved the monument every Armenian knows as Tatik and Papik — the old couple of "We Are Our Mountains" — in a strong, block-cut relief, the stone courses of the sculpture picked out one by one, with a small metal plaque reading ARTSAKH set into the ground beneath them. Around the frame runs a field of carved lattice inside a beaded border, and the whole board is cut in the silhouette of Mount Ararat, the two peaks rising from the top edge with their snow left in pale bare wood. A luxury Armenian backgammon set hand-carved from a single piece of wood — a monument and a mountain on one lid, for the family that carries both.

Undo the cast-bronze clasps and a full 23.6″ / 60 cm hand-carved wooden backgammon board opens up: a carved wheel ornament in a scrolled ring at the heart of each half, pale points tipped with carved fleur-de-lys flourishes, an ornate bronze hinge on the centre bar and the deep grain of the board running under it all. Thirty-two checkers in light and dark wood, a dice set and the branded carrying case come with it. This is the handmade backgammon board for the long evenings when the game is only half the reason everyone came.

Specifications

• Size open: 60 × 60 cm / 23.6″ × 23.6″
• Size folded: 60 × 30 cm / 23.6″ × 11.8″
• Material: beech wood, carved from one piece, stained dark and varnished
• Motif: the "We Are Our Mountains" monument of Artsakh carved in relief inside a round rope-ringed frame, with a metal ARTSAKH plaque; carved lattice ground and beaded border; wheel ornaments and fleur-de-lys points inside
• Outline: Mount Ararat silhouette — the two peaks carved into the top edge with pale snow
• Hardware: cast-bronze hinges and clasps
• Handmade in Armenia by Hrachya Ohanyan

What's Included

• Backgammon board with bronze hinges and clasps
• 32 checkers made from beech and walnut wood, with velvet bases
• Dice set
• Branded carrying case

Why You'll Love It

• The board is the mountain: the Ararat outline is cut into the wood itself, snow and all — closed on a shelf, it reads as sculpture before it reads as a game.
• A monument you can touch: Tatik and Papik stand well off the ground, cut by hand in the Hrachya Ohanyan workshop stone course by stone course — run a finger over them and you feel every block, and no two boards come out the same.
• Ready for the table: full-size 23.6″ / 60 cm board, checkers in light and dark wood, dice and a carrying case — open it and play.

Good to Know Before You Buy

How big is it? Open, the board is 23.6″ / 60 cm square — the standard full size for a living-room table. Closed, it is 23.6″ × 11.8″ / 60 × 30 cm and stands on its own edge, peaks up.

Is the carving real? Yes. The monument, the lattice, the mountain edge and the wheel ornaments inside are all cut into the wood by hand, not printed or pressed. The dark colour is a stain in the wood under the varnish, and the snow on the peaks is the beech left bare.

What about shipping and returns? Shipping is free to the US, Canada and Europe, always tracked; other countries pay a flat $100 (Brazil, Chile and New Zealand $200). Every set is covered by our 30-day returns.

Can I add a name or a date? Yes — choose the engraving option on this page and tell us the text. A name or a date turns it into a personalized backgammon set, and it is the detail people remember years later.

How do I look after it? Keep it out of direct sun and away from radiators, wipe with a dry soft cloth, and store it closed in the case.

We Are Our Mountains

The monument stands on a hill above Stepanakert: two enormous heads of red-brown tuff, an old man and an old woman in the dress of the Artsakh villages, rising straight out of the ground with no bodies — rooted in the land, as the sculptor Sargis Baghdasaryan meant them when he raised it in 1967. Armenians call them Tatik and Papik, grandma and grandpa, and the image has stood for Artsakh on stamps, on its coat of arms and on kitchen walls ever since. For families from Artsakh, wherever life has taken them since, it is the picture that means home. Carved on a nardi board shaped like Ararat, it keeps that home on the table.

About the Artist - Hrachya Ohanyan

In 1985, National Master Hrachya Ohanyan began his fine wood craft, introducing a new approach to the age-old traditions of woodworking. After many years of dedication, the Hrachya Ohanyan workshop was established in 2010. Every board passes through 14 stages of production, with 14 separate craftsmen leaving their mark before it reaches its finished form — a piece of wood artistry admired both in Armenia and around the world. Read the story of master Hrachya Ohanyan or explore the full Hrachya Ohanyan backgammon collection.

A Gift That Lasts Generations

For a wedding, a new home far from the old one, an Artsakh grandfather's birthday or the son who never saw Stepanakert, a hand-carved luxury Armenian backgammon set with Tatik and Papik on the cover is the backgammon gift set that says more than a card can. We send it at Christmas, on Father's Day and to Armenians far from home. It gets opened, played and passed on.