Thassos Marble

Thassos Marble: The Marble Quarries of Thassos Greece, Eastern Aegean

The Marble Quarries of Thassos, Eastern Aegean: The marble of Thassos is popular around the world for its pure white color and brightness. Since the ancient times, Thassos has been famous for its marble quarries since the ancient times. The marble of Thassos became famous in the seventh century BC, when a colony from Paros was established there.

Since then, its marble, produced mostly in the quarries of Alyki, on the southern side of the island, was exported to far away places in Asia and all over the Mediterranean Seas, to

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construct temples and monuments. The Romans used much this marble for their monuments. A school of sculpture was even established on the island in the 6th century BC. Till today, the marble of Thassos is used for sculpturing.

The marble of Thassos has an Apparent Specific Weight of 2850 Kg/m3 and a Compressive Strength of 990 Kg/cm2 which make it sturdy. Its main component is dolomite (86 %) along with calcite (12 %) and quartz (2 %). The stone is sourced from open-pit quarries, unlike other kinds of stones which are dug out from under the ground. These stone quarries are located all over the island.

Today, the quarries use state-of-the art technology to produce this amazing rock which has high demand from across the world. Most of it is exported and a very small portion is kept for the domestic market. Thassos has huge marble factories which process this stone and make it ready to export.

The photo is from www.wikipedia.org

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