On our drive to Konya, our guide made a stop for us to look at a marble quarry. It is the first time I had ever seen one in either Turkey or Greece, although there is a lot of marble in both places (Interesting fact: Turkey is the world's largest exporter of marble).
The quarry was to the side of the road, out in the middle of nowhere. No equipment, no people, just slabs of rock cut out.
Nothing one way...
and nothing the other way.
Here you can clearly see how the smoothness of the cuts.
Remarkably different from the finished product.
My guess is this was done with modern technology (as it was literally in the middle of nowhere). Imagine what it would have taken in the age before technology.
Curious. Is it abandoned, or ? Working with marble (or any stone) is beyond me, but every artisan has their calling.
ReplyDeleteLeigh, I have no idea, although based on the surrounding area - local road, reasonable access - it might still have been in use for local needs (this would be a long way from nowhere to just "go" for marble). Perhaps it is/was a quarry for a specific rebuilding need.
DeleteI knew a stonemason once - very talented fellow. He lamented the fact that at least in the United States, the craft was moribund or actually dead.
Considering the cutting tools way back then looking at all that marble......sheesh!
ReplyDeleteNylon12, to my mind it puts all the marble buildings I have seen of the Ancient World in a new perspective.
DeleteI've seen a few shows on marble slab mining and those machines they use to cut out the blocks are quite incredible. Most recently, I watched a show about whether using robots to carve the bulk of the material before finishing with hand tools is considered "art" or not. It may someday be possible to have your own "David" sculpture out in front of your house.
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