  Skyrmions represent topologically stable field configurations with
particle-like properties. We used neutron scattering to observe the spontaneous
formation of a two-dimensional lattice of skyrmion lines, a type of magnetic
vortices, in the chiral itinerant-electron magnet MnSi. The skyrmion lattice
stabilizes at the border between paramagnetism and long-range helimagnetic
order perpendicular to a small applied magnetic field regardless of the
direction of the magnetic field relative to the atomic lattice. Our study
experimentally establishes magnetic materials lacking inversion symmetry as an
arena for new forms of crystalline order composed of topologically stable spin
states.
