Marble stone – properties, virtues & benefits

Marble is a natural stone prized for its timeless beauty and elegance. Used since ancient times for sculpture and construction, today marble is a material of choice for floors, walls and countertops. Discover the features and benefits of marble stone in this article.

CHARACTERISTICS OF MARBLE

• Chakra: Heart (Anahata).
• Properties: Beauty, elegance, luxury, durability, strength.
• Astrology: Venus.
• Zodiac: Taurus, Libra.
• Elements: Earth.
• Colors: White, gray, black, red, Pink.
• Hardness: 3-4 (Mohs scale).
• Chemical Formula: CaCO3 (calcium carbonate).
• Associated god: Aphrodite (goddess of love and beauty in Greek mythology).

MARBLE STONE – ITS HISTORY

The Greeks called marble “resplendent stone” because of its luminosity. This solid, dense rock has been used for sculpture since antiquity. The most demanding masters worked this stone, which has often been confused with other minerals intended for sculpture. Marble was used to create funerary idols as far back as the Cycladic civilization, and Cycladic idol statuettes were developed in the Aegean islands in the 3rd millennium BC. The goddess of Milo, found on one of these islands, bears witness to the appeal of this material for sculpture. Over the centuries, marble has been used to build religious architecture, such as statues of deities, temples, tombs and political stadia, mainly in the Greek and Roman worlds. Marble quarries were rich, especially on the islands of Nixos and Paros, and ancient Greece used this polished material to build its temples. Greek culture gradually abandoned wood and terracotta slabs, the original building materials. The Greeks used wood covered with baked clay to construct their buildings. The terracotta slabs were painted in bright colors and used to protect wooden frames from damp. Wood was light and inexpensive, but not very comfortable. Columns were often used in Greek architecture to support a façade portico. Before the use of marble, column rings were made of wood. The arrival of marble was therefore a major event for Greek architecture.

Polished marble has been used since antiquity for sculpture and architecture, and its special feature is that it lets light through, giving it a specific luminosity. Architects, sculptors and decorators in the Greek and Roman worlds used it extensively. The Romans developed extraction and transformation techniques, giving a new appearance to this rock, which was widely used to decorate their homes and palaces, notably in the art of mosaics. Marble was very much in vogue as it offered a wide variety of colors, which were incorporated into floors, walls and columns. Difficult transport from quarries on the Greek islands to Rome added to the luxurious value of this material, placing it on a par with precious metals, sPices or slaves. Unique architectural achievements testify to the appeal of this material throughout history, such as the city of Rome, Florence, Michelangelo’s David, the cathedrals of Pisa, the Château de Versailles, the Taj Mahal, the Palace of Parliament in Bucharest, the Basilica of Saint Sophia in Constantinople, etc. Marble is still used today for flooring, tiles and facades, fountains, staircases and tombs, and its nuances and fine grains are highly appreciated for the aesthetics of facades. The material is considered elegant and timeless in architectural terms.

Marble is a mineral whose calcareous texture has been modified by metamorphism, which has enabled a transformation of its chemical composition and mineralogical assemblage through the recrystallization of ancient limestones. Geologically speaking, stone is made up of calcite crystals, formed by the preciPitation of calcium carbonate. It is distinguished by its ability to take polish and by its aesthetic appeal based on its veins and stains of different hues. In France, most quarried rocks would have to be called “marble stones” to match the geological definition. However, in the field of art, marble stone is defined differently, mainly in sculpture and architecture, as a rock material of great variety hard enough to be polished and capable of refracting sunlight to obtain a shine. In most cases, these are rocks with more or less fine crystals visible to the naked eye. The term “marble” can also refer to unprocessed sedimentary limestone, derived from coral reefs or fossilized limestone mud deposits. Other polishable minerals, such as silicate minerals, can also be used in art. Historically, “statuary” white marble has been the most widely used substance in sculpture and architecture because of its uniform stain, free of veins and stains, and its fine, homogeneous grain. Today, the term “marble” is mainly used to designate calcareous rock, sometimes polishable. Geological and artistic definitions distinguish appeal for its composition and malleability, while everyday language often uses the term “marble stones” to encompass the whole.

Marble had its heyday in Greco-Roman antiquity, but many cultures have also used the mineral to create exceptional Pieces. In ancient Egypt, different varieties of mineral were worked into vases that were placed in the tombs of the pharaohs. The organs of kings, including the heart and lungs, were placed in these vases carved as sacred animals, as pharaohs and high officials believed in an afterlife. Gold and marble were highly prized at this time, and chips of these materials are found on vases and tombs in most pyramids. In the Middle Ages, in the Byzantine world and in Italy, the use of marble developed as a continuation of the Roman EmPire. The Basilica of Saint Sophia in Constantinople is an example of this desire to copy Roman tradition while blending Byzantine culture with the Middle Ages. Its columns are carved from remarkable minerals such as red porphyry, which comes from Egypt. The basilica is still considered an architectural masterPiece. Fine marble crystal was mainly used as an exceptional facing by Byzantine culture, with a demand for the most prestigious colors and patterns, to create beautiful decorative panels or columns.

In Italy, desPite the influence of Gothic art in neighboring countries, marble continued to be used thanks to Byzantine influence. Italy breathed new life into this rock during the Renaissance, offering the world masterPieces in Pisa, Florence and Rome. The Medici rulers of Tuscany were instrumental in bringing this luxurious material to the attention of the whole of Europe. The use of marble reached its apogee in Italy during the Baroque period, particularly in church interiors, where the material was worked to give more artistic and refined shapes, textures, colors and patterns. In France, influenced by Italian fashion, marble stone took on a political dimension under Louis XIV, who adorned the Palace of Versailles with the finest and most expensive materials in the kingdom, not hesitating to seek them out in quarries in the Pyrenees, Languedoc or Provence, or even abroad, to find remarkable shades. Beautiful material was negotiated with Tuscan or Genoese merchants and arrived by river. Every era and culture has been captivated by the art of working this rock. Today, most of the quarries have disappeared, and the knowledge and know-how associated with this precious rock are being forgotten. The question of preserving cultural heritage and passing on knowledge about the history and art of working this material is up for debate.

MARBLE STONE – ITS ORIGIN AND COMPOSITION

Marble is the term used to designate different varieties of more or less fine-grained compact limestone rock, capable of being polished. The era when this stone was most created was in the Mesozoic terrains of the Secondary Era, more precisely during the Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous periods, when the varieties were most beautiful and rich in color. Each mining site of this period produced numerous varieties of marble. This heavy, shiny stone was formed in the earth’s crust at a depth of around 6,000 metres, under the pressure of the Earth’s natural heat and vapours, from a large deposit of limestone dating back some 330 million years, which accumulated at the bottom of the seas and today only remains in the form of massive islands. France is rich in marble, with deposits in the Massif Central, Vosges, Ardennes, Alps and Pyrenees. The final formation of this stone took place within 50 million years, through complete crystallization. It is extracted from underground or open-cast quarries, using tools such as the diamond wire saw.

In the late 1970s, the horizontal diamond wire saw was created to extract marble blocks from the Carrara quarries in Italy. This tool squares the blocks and saws thick slices for various structures such as walls, paving, worktops or urban monuments. This innovation has led to a major improvement in productivity and a superior quality of cut. Once the blocks have been extracted, they are sent to marble workshops for cutting and trimming. Today, most blocks are sent to Italy, a country that continues to possess expertise in this field. Marble is naturally covered with a layer of cullet, which can simply be removed with water to reveal the natural patterns. Marble is sensitive to all acids, and its colors depend on its original mineralogical composition. Red, for example, comes from copper, iron and chromium salts, while green is related to magnesium. Colors can range from white, the best-known, to red, blue, green, yellow, gray and black. Patterns can be created by veins, spots, flecks, ripples and clouds, all of which contribute to the material’s aesthetic appeal. Because of their polished texture, granite and porphyry are often considered marble. Nowadays, synthetic marble can also be produced in the laboratory using a pressure of 2000 bar and a temperature of around 800°C for a week.

In ancient times, marble quarries were used extensively, depleting many varieties. These minerals are called “antique marbles”, as opposed to “modern marbles”. Lucullus, named by the Romans, from Millet and Alabanda in Caria, a historic region of Asia Minor, has disappeared. Egyptian red, a dark hue with dark-colored spots and veins, has become extremely rare and luxurious. It is found on the statue of Marcus Agrippa in the Grimaldi Palace in Venice. Antique green is extracted from serpentine breccias in Thessaly, a traditional and historic region of Greece, south of Macedonia. Its beautiful dull, dark color, speckled with white, is often mixed with calcite, dolomite or magnesite and can be seen on four majestic columns in the Louvre Museum. The blue of the period is found in Italy and is coarse-grained, whitish-Pink with undulations and zigzagging slate-blue spots. Small antique blue is mined at Staremma in Etruria, a region of central Italy, now in Tuscany. Its grain is very fine, with veins of white and slate-gray. The yellow of the period was extracted from the quarries of the Simitthus city, now the village of Chemtou, in Tunisia. Its color is uniform, but the intensity of its hues varies. Grand Antique was mined in the Lez valley, near Aubert in the Midi-Pyrénées region. It is composed of dark black fragments and lineaments mixed with sparkling light fragments. Aleppo breccia was mined near Carrara. Varied in color, the crystal features angular lilac fragments mixed with a purplish-brown background. Today, ancient marble quarries are either exhausted or unknown. Industrialization in the 19th century introduced the classification of “modern marbles”, which are raPidly depleting and can be classified according to their composition.

Modern marble is classified into four categories: simple, breccias, compounds and lumachelles. Simple marbles are mainly composed of lime carbonate and are distinguished by their white, black, red or yellow color, which can be very pure. The most important quarries are in Italy, on the island of Paros and Mount Pentelic in the Aegean Sea, as well as in Carrara near Modena and Seravezza in Tuscany. Italy’s quarries have been supplying quality marble blocks for centuries, particularly for sculpture. Black or gray marble is quarried in Belgium’s Walloon region. Griotte, a dark red color, is quarried in southern France, while Sienna yellow is used mainly for marquetry and clock bases. Saint-Anne, dark gray with white flecks, is mined in abundance in Belgian Hainaut for staircases, fireplaces, funerary monuments and interior decorations for furniture and roadways. Genoa green, the hardest of all marbles, is veined with white and is found in northwestern Italy. Breccias are marbles made up of fragments of different colors, united by a cement of sedimentary rocks.

Modern marble is divided into four categories: simple, breccias, compounds and lumachelles. Simple marbles, mainly composed of lime carbonate, can be white, black, red or yellow, and are generally quarried in Italy at Carrara, Modena or Seravezza, or on the island of Paros in Greece. Italian quarries are renowned for their statuary marble used for sculpture. Breccias, on the other hand, are angular fragments of different colors joined by a cement of sedimentary rock, and can be large or small in size. Aix breccia is characterized by large yellow and violet fragments joined by gray or black veins. Violet breccia, also known as peach blossom, was mined in Tuscany, but the quarries are now exhausted. Compounds contain foreign matter arranged in sheets or nests within the rock. Compound marbles include antique green, Suze, Mer and Florence marbles. Finally, lumachelles contain Pieces of shell, either Piled up or scattered. Lumachelles include Drap mortuaire, opaline, lumachelle de Narbonne and lumachelle de Lucy-le-Bois, used for mantels, furniture tops and luxurious decorative objects.

MARBLE STONE – VERTIES AND PROPERTIES

PHYSICAL MARBLE

Marble is a precious stone that can help with changes and encourage decision-making for a renewed life. It encourages boldness and courage, while revitalizing the body, often used in spas. Marble can also be used for astral travel experiences. In sPiritual terms, this statuary stone can help express emotions with more love and gentleness, as well as encouraging purification and serenity.

Onyx is a polished, marble-like mineral that can offer strength and support in difficult times. It is useful in times of mental or physical stress, and helps to project oneself into the future. Onyx is also beneficial for soothing lovers’ quarrels and old sorrows, thanks to its ability to store physical memories. This stone can confer self-confidence, firmness and vitality, as well as the ability to feel at ease in one’s surroundings.

Finally, calcite is another stone that contains calcium carbonate and is a powerful energy amplifier.

Marble is a stone that can help with change and decision-making, and encourage resolutions of renewal. It is often used in spas for its revitalizing effects, and its simple contact with the skin helps to restore bodily energy. On a more sPiritual level, marble can be useful when experimenting with astral travel. Crystal is known for expressing purity and serenity, encouraging the expression of emotions with more love, kindness and gentleness. Onyx, which is close to marble in its polished form, brings strength and support in difficult times, facilitating the centering of energy and calming lovers’ quarrels. Calcite, also composed of calcium carbonate, is a powerful energy amplifier, warding off negative energies in rooms and in the body. It is linked to higher consciousness and restores hope, combats laziness and intensifies memory. Calcite relieves emotional stress, facilitates openness to sPiritual sensitivity and brings serenity. Finally, Picasso marble, also known as Picasso jasper, is a stone that encourages action to achieve one’s goals. It stimulates creativity, imagination and brings fresh ideas, naturally favoring mutual aid and compassion.

PHYSICAL MARBLE

Marble, in crystal form, has beneficial properties for the physical body. In ancient Greece, marble powder was used to relieve stomach ailments. Paesin stone, which resembles this powder, strengthens bones and promotes imagination and dreams. Statuary marble remineralizes the body and improves skin elasticity. Its purity is also reputed to help fight addictions such as alcohol and drugs. Onyx, meanwhile, promotes the absorption of positive energies and facilitates harmony and relief, particularly after gynaecological or breast surgery. It is also beneficial for white blood cells, bone disorders and the sPinal cord, and helps relieve bodywork. Calcite is useful for purifying the organs of elimination, strengthening bones and joints, increasing calcium absorption, fortifying the immune system and stimulating blood coagulation. Finally, Picasso jasper stimulates the immune system, improves blood circulation, prevents gastrointestinal and skin disorders, and relieves muscular tension. This stone also promotes the irrigation of muscles and organs, as well as the progress of the digestive system.

To maintain the beauty and longevity of marble, regular cleaning is recommended. There are various natural methods for cleaning it, such as using a mixture of soda crystals and water to add shine, or using clay stone with a damp sponge for deep cleaning. Blanc de Meudon and blanc d’Espagne are also useful for regular maintenance, while liquid black soap in hot water can be used to clean stone. However, it’s important to note that marble stone should never come into contact with acid, as even lemon can damage the mineral. Before use, we recommend purifying the stone with distilled water to eliminate negative energies. To recharge the stone, simply let it warm up and dry in the sun. Marble can be used directly on sensitive parts of the body or worn as jewelry for constant benefit.

MARBLE STONE – CLEAN AND RECHARGE

Marble is a natural stone that requires proper care to maintain its beauty and durability. Here are a few tips for cleaning and recharging your marble stone:

Cleaning:

• Use a soft, damp cloth to wipe the marble surface.
• Avoid using abrasive or acidic cleaners that could damage the stone.
• For stubborn stains, use a cleaner specially designed for marble.

Loading:

• Place your marble stone outdoors or near a window so it can be exposed to natural light.
• You can also place it on a cluster of quartz or rock crystal to recharge it energetically.
• Meditate while holding your marble stone in your hand to help it purify and recharge energetically.

WHERE DOES THE NAME MARBLE COME FROM?

The word “marble” comes from the ancient Greek “mármaros”, meaning “shining stone”. The term was later adopted by the Romans in the form “marmor”, which gave rise to the French word “marbre”. The name is probably derived from the shiny, smooth appearance of marble stone, which was highly prized for sculpture and construction in ancient times.

WHICH CHAKRA DOES MARBLE WORK FOR?

Marble is associated with the heart chakra, also known as Anahata in Sanskrit. The heart chakra is located in the center of the chest and is associated with love, compassion, empathy and emotional balance. Marble is considered a healing stone for the heart chakra, helPing to restore emotional harmony and strengthen connection with others and with oneself.

WHICH ASTROLOGICAL SIGN IS ASSOCIATED WITH MARBLE?

Marble is associated with the astrological signs of Taurus and Libra. Taurus natives are often drawn to marble for its luxurious appearance and durability, while Libra natives appreciate its balance and timeless elegance. Marble is also associated with the planet Venus, which is the ruling planet of Taurus and Libra, as well as the planet of love, beauty and harmony.

MARBLE STONE SUMMARY

Marble stone is a metamorphic rock formed from limestone or dolomite subjected to conditions of high pressure and temperature. It is characterized by its smooth, uniform texture, as well as by its varied colors, which can range from pure white through Pink, green and beige to deep black. Marble has been used since antiquity for sculpture, construction and decoration, and remains today a material of choice for architectural and artistic projects. However, marble can be sensitive to acids and scratches, and therefore requires regular maintenance to maintain its beauty and durability.