Sharing deep cultural value and timeless design, Manopoulos Chess sets are created through the skills of gifted sculptors, designers, and craftsmen. Each chess set showcases aspects of Greek civilization and European history, from playing pieces which draw on notable historical and mythical figures and famous works of art, to themes taken straight from the history and mythology of Greece, Manopoulos Chess sets are sure to inspire. Named for a period of time characterized as a “rebirth” after the darkness of the Middle Ages, the Renaissance Chess set symbolizes the return of European culture to an interest in literature, philosophy, art, science, architecture, and politics, mimicking the Greek values of antiquity. The Chessmen The figures are gracefully thin and symbolically decorated, according to the slender aesthetics of the period. The King and the Queen reflect a more individualistic view of man, while the Knight combines influences of an increased awareness of nature, and the Rook represents a revival of classical learning. The Renaissance period was a cultural awakening in the art world. Advances in perspective and the depiction of human anatomy resulted in a trend of increasing naturalism in Renaissance sculpture, in which human and animal figures were depicted with startling life likeness.