Using Carrara Marble

Many famous buildings and statues have been made from the spectacular stone, Carrara marble, which I saw at the quarry (previous post). Seeing the source of the stone in the quarry was a high point of my time in Florence and now I enjoy things made from this stone even more than I did before.

A few of the famous buildings and statues built of Carrara marble that I have actually seen on this trip, lucky me, are in Rome. The oldest of the buildings that I saw (that sources say use Carrara marble) was the Pantheon in Rome. I’m not sure where Carrara marble is used because much of the marble from the outside is missing and in the inside there is plenty of non-white stone (which is therefore, not Carrara marble).

Another very old example is the Column of Marcus Aurelius (which was modeled after the Trajan Column, which I don’t think I saw during my brief visits to Rome). The Column of Marcus Aurelius was built between 176-193 A.D.

In the  city of Sienna, the Duomo di Sienna, built between 1215 and 1263 had white marble mixed with other colors, primarily green. These different colors of marble were used both inside and out.

Perhaps the most famous story of the use of Carrara marble is the huge block Michelangelo inherited from other artists who started but did not complete a statue from the huge piece of stone. Michelangelo used the block to create David.

Michelangelo also used the same type of marble to sculpt Pietà, created between 1498-99, located in St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome. I tried to get a good picture, but it was hard because everyone was trying to do the same thing–all 35,000 of us (okay, that many people come each day so they weren’t all there when I was there, but it was certainly crowded.)

The Christus and the Twelve Apostles, carved by Bertel Thorvaldsen, also used Carrara marble. The LDS Church has commissioned a copy of these statutes for the Visitor’s Center at the Rome Temple.The Christus was still on the lot at the quarry, so we were able to see it up close.

Because of the position where the statue was stored, with a packing box of some type in front, it was hard to get a full photo. However, I loved this view from the back.

Life-size copies of the Thorvaldsen Twelve Apostles were also still in another building off-site from the quarry, waiting for the Visitor’s Center to be finished. Peter is in the middle photo; you can tell because of the keys he holds.

Remember, if you are interested, this tour was put together by Heather Evertsen of Europa Vita. You can contact her at: http://www.europavita.us/. The specialty tour of the quarry is at: http://www.europavita.us/classic-carrara/.