Parian Marble Quarry

The parian marble was much preferred by the renowned greek sculptors largely due to its transparency and fine.

Parian marble quarry. Parian marble is a fine grained semi translucent pure white and entirely flawless marble quarried during the classical era on the greek island of paros in the aegean sea. The trade of this transparent marble which supported the economy of paros was conducted in every historical period. 1 107 m which yields white pentelic marble on its north slope. Marble is a metamorphic rock composed of recrystallized carbonate minerals most commonly calcite or dolomite marble is typically not foliated although there are exceptions in geology the term marble refers to metamorphosed limestone but its use in stonemasonry more broadly encompasses unmetamorphosed limestone.

The attractive appearance of quarry stone was used for obelisks and other ancient egyptian monuments. In classical times the peak had 25 quarries on the south slope at elevations between 2 500 and 3 300 feet 760 and 1000 m. These provided excellent marble for most of the buildings and sculptures of athens in the 5th. Some of the most famous greek sculptures like the statue of nike and antinous were created from parian marble.

Sculptors prefer paros marble due to its pure white translucence. Marble is commonly used for sculpture and as a building material. Other articles where pentelic marble is discussed. It was given this name because marble was quarried in deep galleries under the light of lamps lychnos.

What made paros great. Due to its clarity and its transparency. Here they used to quarry the famous parian marble also known as lychnites. Ermis of praxiteli the aphrodite of milos the temple of neptune in sounio the temple of solomon are some of work.

Parian marble which is white and translucent with a coarse grain and a very beautiful texture was the chief source of wealth for the island. The exceptional quality and the unique transparency of parian marble made it the coveted prize in the entire hellenic world. A drive walk tour with special archeological cultural interest. An interior road from lefkes and marpissa that passes by the side of a mountain ultimately leads to the renowned marble quarries of marathi in paros this is the place where one of the finest varieties of marble is found.

The big transparency of parian marble that gouged from the quarries of marathi helped a lot in order to the hands of great sculptors are given birth masterpieces. The celebrated marble quarries lie on the northern side of the mountain anciently known as marathi afterwards capresso a little below a former convent of st mina. It was highly prized by ancient greeks for making sculptures some of the greatest masterpieces of ancient greek sculpture were carved from parian marble including the medici venus and the winged victory of samothrace.