I also came upon a high-tech instrument with robotic arms carving a marble copy of the David. To computerize a method to recreate the famous artwork seemed like cheating, but then, the Mona Lisa and other works have been copied many times. After leaving the quarry, I was transported to the old town of Carrara where I was given about an hour to explore on my own. Marble maintains the local economy; in Carrara, producing and selling marble is the way of life.
For anyone interested in adventure or the art of marble cutting, a visit to the Carrara Mable Mines becomes a fantastic and unusual outing and is highly recommended. If you drive to the quarry, the cost is just 10 euro per person. My tour included pick up and return to the train station plus the tour, meal and free time in town for 45 euros.
Have you been to the Carrara Marble Mines? Or send us an email with your thoughts. Boomer travelers rely on our weekly email newsletter for fresh travel inspiration, tips, and advice. It's free! No spam, unsubscribe anytime. Skip to content. Who loves marble? Historic photo of oxen pulling cart over the mines. Diamond wire for cutting marble.
These are reasons why the processes followed are still so antiquated in comparison with quarrying in other parts of the world. The different kinds of marble are not arranged in layers, but blend with one another like the colors of the rainbow.
A little sandy coating covers the blocks, and divides each from the other. It is noticed that where marble is exposed to the sun, it becomes harder; where it is placed in the shade, it becomes finer and softer.
From an admixture of metallic substances, the marbles are sometimes marked, speckled, veined, and spotted. Though the marbles are of great variety, they may all be reduced to threefold classifications of brecciati. Although the elegant brecciato is much liked for ornaments, and the flowered bar-diglio is useful, still it is the bianco which is of the greatest importance, and the white statuary marble is the noblest of all.
It has many varieties. Sometimes it is of dazzling whiteness, sometimes it inclines to blue, sometimes to flesh color, as is the case with crestola. It rises in value in proportion to its freshness, its tint, its crystallization, and the size of the piece. Its freedom from impurities is also a matter of much consideration. The crestola is the choicest of all, either on account of the beauty of its surface or because, from being less liable to chip, it can receive from an expert hand more finely chiseled and delicate features.
A beauti ful proof of the excellence of this marble was given by the sculptor Moli in his "Pompeian Mother," now in the possession of Mr. Mitchell Henry, of London. The woman, flying with her child from the disaster, tries to shield herself from the burning rain with some drapery or a sheet, which she holds high above her head. The air which she displaces in running swells the folds of the drapery, which, owing to the masterly way in which these folds are executed, and the deli cacy of the work, is so fragile that it seems as thin and transparent as if it were linen.
The most colossal monuments, however, the loftiest columns and the most sumptuous vestibules, are made of bianco-chiaro. Nearly one hundred and fifty years ago the famous Academy of Fine Arts was established at Carrara; but as far back as the fifteenth century, these marble moun tains attracted the sculptor, and the little city has long been one of the actual art centers of Europe, though seldom heard of compared with Florence and other Ital ian communities.
Michelangelo worked here for years, and was one of the first savants to realize the extent and quality of the beds. Bondinella and many other masters of the chisel had studios in Carrara, and some of their creations are to be seen in the museum, which contains one of the most valuable collections of sculp ture in existence, including pieces which date back nearly to the era of the Roman republic.
Carrara has also been a great school for sculptors. It has been said that even the quarrymen inherit a talent for fash ioning with the chisel, handed down through genera tions. Certain it is that a large number have become expert with the use of this tool. This article was originally published with the title "The Marble Quarries of Carrara" in Scientific American 97, 20, November Already a subscriber?
Sign in. Thanks for reading Scientific American. Create your free account or Sign in to continue. See Subscription Options. Discover World-Changing Science. Get smart. Sign up for our email newsletter. Sign Up. Support science journalism. So they're difficult to shape, to model. Instead the Carrara marble has all those characteristics.
Then it's a pretty uniform white. It has a medium hardness. It's not too hard and not too soft. It's really perfect. World globe An icon of the world globe, indicating different international options. Get the Insider App. Click here to learn more. A leading-edge research firm focused on digital transformation.
0コメント