British Museum to loan six Lewis chessmen to Scotland

Six of the Lewis chessmen are to go on permanent display at Lews Castle, Stornoway, from 2014 as part of a loan agreement between the Western Isles Council and the British Museum. 

The medieval chess pieces will be displayed in a new museum funded by a £4.6m Heritage Lottery Fund grant and supported by National Museums Scotland (NMS) and the British Museum. 

Viking swords top the list at Bonhams’ sale

A fearsome array of swords from the Medieval period and earlier, including Viking weapons, form the main thrust of Bonhams’ sale of antique arms and armour on 28 November in London’s Knightsbridge.

David Williams, director of arms and armour at Bonhams, said: ‘Many of these rare and remarkable weapons would have been used in battle. The scarring and damage goes some way to confirm this, though the years have also taken their toll.’

Sarlat’s regional food festival

Foie gras is the order of the day at Sarlat’s gastronomy festival, with stalls selling it and a demonstration of how to cook it – with the accompaniment of local figs.

Review: Royal Manuscripts at the British Library

The British Library’s current exhibition, Royal Manuscripts The Genius of Illumination, is a triumph.

The show draws its material primarily from the Royal Library that was given to the nation in 1757 and includes more than 150 of the most exquisite and ancient illuminated manuscripts to be found in Europe.

Visitors enter past a short display that describes how such manuscripts were made – by monks and scribes writing and illustrating upon parchment made sheepskin and vellum, from calfskin.

Their paints were created from the likes of lapis lazuli (blue) and minium (red) – hence, the display explains, the word miniature.