Game of stones: calls to protect Spanish city’s centuries-old noughts and crosses

Residents started to spot the games across the city after photos of Xs and Os in the atrium of a convent began circulating on social media. Photograph: Colectivo A Rula

A local historical association in Santiago de Compostela has called for the protection of a lesser-known facet of the Spanish city’s past: the almost 200 games of noughts and crosses carved centuries ago into some of its most emblematic buildings and spaces.

“They’re hidden in plain sight,” said Luis Leclere of Colectivo A Rula. “We’ve never heard of anything like the concentration of games we have here.”