News

European Ornamental stone resources (EuroLithos)

21/08/2019

Iddelfjord granite eurolithos3 — Iddelfjord granite: durable, workable, and found at many world-famous attractions: Ritz Hotel in London, the streets of Buenos Aires, the docks of Cape Town, Vigeland park in Oslo, etc

Ornamental stone has contributed significantly in shaping our rural and urban landscapes, through its use in our built heritage from different historical periods. Ornamental stone is today a raw material produced with great skills all over Europe, exploiting the vast diversity of European natural stone resources. Yet, the actual use of local and regional stone resources in Europe is decreasing, and so is the knowledge of the resources, traditions and skills.

Oppdal schist, Norway. The physical properties of the stone make it possible to cleave and break with high accuracy. Old crafts + technology = innovation

VERY short-travelled building stone. Metamorphic sandstone, once continental platform sediments, now 1000 masl National Park, Rondane, Norway

Rochlitz porphyry tuff (“Rochlitzer Porphyrtuff”): A candidate for “Global Heritage Stone Resource” designation from Germany

EuroLithos is founded on the idea that increased knowledge of the geology, quality and history of use of natural stone in Europe will stimulate both more sustainable use of stone resources in Europe for the benefit of SME’s and our cultural heritage, and a sound land use management for the safeguarding of ornamental stone deposits.

EuroLithos addresses several aspects of the scope: identify and map the type and quality of construction materials, and provide tools and protocols for the assessment and comparison of deposits. EuroLithos will also address cultural heritage and building preservation aspects, since the maintenance of European heritage and a living stone industry are mutually dependent.

EuroLithos will result in an ornamental stone knowledge base under the umbrella of EGDI, covering harmonised spatial data on European stone resources, atlas of resources and use, a directory of ornamental stone properties and guidelines for valorising ornamental stone heritage. EuroLithos will work in close collaboration with the GeoEra Information Platform. The EuroLithos consortium is composed of 16 partners from 14 countries, collectively forming a strong and innovative research group.

Karystia Lithos. At the southern part of the island of Evia, Greece, large deposits of a unique type of marble are found – the Cipollino Verde. This was one of the most popular coloured marbles of the Roman Period and examples of its use have been found in almost every corner of the Empire as far north as Britain.Unfinished columns from the Roman Period still lying around in the quarry landscape

GIS viewer for Eurolithos results. Through this viewer the results of the Eurolithos project will be made accessible when they will be available. The current view is not showing results of the project but is only here to give an idea about and where the results will appear and on which technology (the EGDI).

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