THE REDISCOVERY OF GREEK ROSSO ANTICO MARBLE AND ITS USE IN BRITAIN IN THE NINETEENTH AND TWENTIETH CENTURIES

Abstract

The metamorphic geology of Greece and the Aegean produced a wide range of coloured stones which were used in antiquity. In the second half of the nineteenth century several of the ancient quarries were rediscovered and reopened by Greek and British companies within the developing economy of the young Greek state. One such stone is the fine maroon marble rosso antico, emplaced at several locations in the Mani. It had first been exploited in the Late Bronze Age and exploitation continued extensively during the Roman Empire. The new quarryings of the nineteenth century resulted in much export to Britain, where the marble was used in churches, notably St Paul's Cathedral and Westminster Cathedral in London, in commercial and university buildings, in private houses and, as a gift of the Greek government, for the plinth of Byron's statue in Park Lane, London.