Parian marble

Parian marble is a fine-grained, white marble from the Greek island of Paros.

While he brought the Cycladic island in ancient times as a raw material for sculptures and architectural applications large attention that ancient underground mining sites in the northern mountains of the island are now used mainly as a tourist attraction.

Quarries and rock properties

On the island of Paros several old quarries are existent, but could not provide all the material for statues. The marble of some recovery points is interspersed with quartz grains, which makes its use for sculptural works largely impossible. The color varies in shades of light gray, dark gray and sometimes when you hit the rock a bituminous odor is perceptible.

In the transition regions adjacent to gneiss games mica and iron minerals are embedded in Parian marble. However, most quarries of Paros avoid the transition zones and open up massive pronounced marble deposits.

The rock is predominantly coarse-grained, usually two to three millimeters, in some cases up to five millimeters in size. It is mainly a calcitic marble

Significant ancient quarries are located between the towns of Parikia and Agios Minas and in the valley that runs from the port of Naoussa.

History of marble degradation

Since the 6th century BC marble quarrying on the flank of the mountain Marpesso, the central massif of Paros, especially on the northern flank, near the village of Marathi is detected. In the first century BC marble mining came under Roman influence. Pliny calls it in his Naturalis Historia, and uses the term lychnites. Among the famous ancient sculptors who worked with the Parian marble, Praxiteles counts. Thus, its use in the 4th century is occupied.

Statue Marble

The coveted in ancient marble statue was gained in underground mining, in the so-called nymphs Grottoes. Following a specific bank, here are the raw pieces of Lychnites mentioned statue marble were obtained. This name refers to the Greek word λύχνος ( German: lamp, light), because the crystal structure allows a considerable translucency in the rock. This property was very much appreciated for the statues. The most famous statue of Parian marble is probably the Venus de Milo.

The light transmittance caused some roofing known temple with this marble, creating a certain amount of natural interior light was given.

Among the most important ancient buildings with Parian marble is one of Apollo temple in Delphi.

Museum

The island is located in the main town of Parikia is a small Archaeological Museum ( established in 1960 ). Here excavations are shown, including many relics of ancient marble works.