Today on Monday Mysteries we look at the oddity of playing games in a cloister courtyard.

Well, it’s an oddity as far as I’m concerned, but apparently back in medieval times, defacing the architecture in a cloister courtyard in order to scratch a game board into the marble wasn’t all that uncommon.  At least according to Wikipedia, which notes that scratching a 9 Men’s Morris game in a cloister wall was very common  during the Middle Ages.

Still, it came as something of surprise to see here in Verona — and the Italian Wikipedia doesn’t talk about this.   But Chris and I went to a medieval cloister here in Verona, in the nearby Duomo (Cathedral) complex. Although we’ve visited there in years past, this time Chris noticed what looks boards for the 9 Men’s Morris game scratched into the low standing wall between the columns that surround the cloister’s courtyard.  Fun to notice; when the cloister museum is open again, I’ll need to go by and quiz them about this practice…

In the meantime, Chris has kindly shared a few photos he took of the cloister’s wall and game boards; there were many more game boards that I haven’t been able to include in this post as well.

In any case, enjoy.

Cloister at the Verona Cathedral

Game board #1 at the Verona Cathedral Cloister

Game board #2

Game board #3

Game board #4

Game board #5