Grand Antique
The Grand Antique is the most prestigious marble of the Pyrenees with its white and black tones and perfectly irregular geometric shapes that create a clear separation between the two colours in such a way as to make it inimitable. The Grand Antique appears to be a tectonic breach: it comprises black limestone (black component) and white calcite (white component). The Grand Antique formed thanks to a folding of the northern area of the Pyrenees 65 million years ago, and it can be extracted in that area only. For this reason, it is one of the rarest and most unique marbles in the world. The first works in the quarry date back to Roman times when they called this prestigious material "Marmor celticum". It has been used in the most remarkable architectural masterpieces for Rome, Constantinople and Venice. Nowadays, it's still considered one of the most refined and elegant choices for interior design.
Grand antique, the ideal choice to make every single artifact a masterpiece of elegance.
Quarry
Le trou de l'oubli
Formation
:
65 mln years ago
Discovery
:
100 a.c
Coordinates
:
lat 45.3879, lon 8.9144
The Grand Antique quarry was called "Le trou de l'oubli" (literally the oblivion hole ) because it appeared to be lost from the world, almost invisible to human eyes. This difficulty in finding it made it so unique and and precious that Louis 14th wanted the Grand Antique at all costs in his Palace of Versailles. Nonetheless his men could not find the quarry, only a few small stones scattered here and there.