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"I saw the angel in the marble and carved until I set him free". Michelangelo Buonarroti

tdarlington

Updated: Jun 15, 2022



The Romans built the Pantheon with it, Michelangelo used the elegant white stone for his statue of David. Carrara marble has been prominent in art and architecture for centuries, starting with slabs pulled from the Carrara quarries of Tuscany in the days of ancient Rome, now extracted using modern techniques.

Known by its dominant white or white-gray colour and veining that ranges from blue-gray to charcoal gray, Carrara marble turns an ordinary room into a work of art.

Carrara marble, Luna marble to the Romans has been quarried in the mountains just outside the city of Carrara in the province of Massa and Carrara in the Lunigiana, the northernmost tip of modern-day Tuscany, Italy. More marble has been extracted from the over 650 quarry sites near Carrara than from any other place.

This wonderful marble has been used since ancient Roman times and still used today for a variety of buildings, statues and monuments.


Carrara marble has been used on and in many buildings around the world - The Pantheon Rome, Marble Arch London, Siena Duomo, Prem Mandir Vrindavan Uttar Pradesh, Harvard Medical School buildings Boston, First Canadian Place Toronto to name a few.



The marble can be bought from the quarries and agents that cut into regular shapes and thicknesses for internal and exterior use. Popular for cladding, flooring, worktops, bath tubs etc


The pure white statuario grade was used for monumental sculpture, as "it has a high tensile strength, can take a high gloss polish and holds very fine detail".


Carrara marble was loved by Michelangelo for many of his sculptures including the perfect powerful Statue of David lovingly carved out of a 20-foot slab, Pieta in St peters and The Medici Chapels. He often camped out in Carrara to ensure the mined blocks met his quality standards.

”The marble not yet carved can hold the form of every thought the greatest artist has.” Michelangelo Buonarroti


“In every block of marble I see a statue as plain as though it stood before me, shaped and perfect in attitude and action. I have only to hew away the rough walls that imprison the lovely apparition to reveal it to the other eyes as mine see it.” Michelangelo Buonarroti


Tours of the mines, a visit to The Civic Museum of Marble and Carrara are all worth a visit.

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