Mammoth Tusk Chess "Touching Gaudi"

The Catalan architectural genius Antonio Gaudi y Cornet was born in the middle of the 19th century to make a fairy tale come true. He combined Gothic with modernity, heaven with earth, religion with innovative art and became equally revered both in artistic circles and among the clergy (the Vatican even decided not so long ago to canonize him).

The figures of the proposed set are stylized to match the best examples of this phenomenal architecture - towers, spires, pavilions, fragments from 12 masterpieces of the Catalan architect (College of the Sisters of St. Teresa, Park Guell, Episcopal Palace, etc.). The whites stand solidly on the board, the blacks rushed up in bizarre spirals. However, the confrontation between "straight" and "curved" figures is quite conditional: Gaudi himself could not stand drawings, he said that people without imagination came up with a right angle, and considered the chicken egg to be the pinnacle of perfection. It was as if he had declared war on the straight line and moved into a world of fluid forms. Evidence of this is the Sagrada Familia Cathedral, the famous Sagrada Familia, fragments of which, especially the turrets and finials, are easily guessed in many chess pieces. The architect worked on the main building of his life for more than 40 years, but still did not have time to finish it, the work has not been completed to this day. The idea turned out to be too grandiose: in terms of the cathedral, it is a cross 110 meters long, 45 meters high, includes 12 towers according to the number of apostles, four bell towers according to the number of evangelists and two spires - the Mother of God and Jesus.

The set board also symbolizes Gaudi's creations. On the lid there is a glass mosaic from the Guell Park, and on the sides there are the lines of the Milne house, beautiful in their unusual curvature. Gaudi's volcanic fantasy will be appreciated by every player: the figures created in the image and likeness of his buildings turned out to be of such unearthly beauty that any of them looks like a king.