The History of Southern Stone in Building

Stone is ever-present in Southern landscapes, it is everywhere. It has always been so, and man in Mediter-ranean France has always loved stone. Today it holds an important place in men's hearts just as it did before There have always been quarries from which stone has been extracted and craftsmen who have carved it..

In Oldent Days...
There is not enough evidence to prove that man regularly used stone quarries before Roman times, but it is probable that local deposits have been quarried by man for a long time.

It was with the Romans that the quarrying industry really took off. These new inhabitants were, in fact, very big users of stone : they used stone a lot to set up their buildings and monuments as well as for their roads (via). The stone which is so characteristic of our modern quarries can be found in the architectural legacy they left behind for us (Pont du Gard stone, stone from the Glanum quarries in houses in Arles, stone from Rognes in the houses in Aix...)

The Middle Ages
The period of invasions which followed on from Gallo-Roman prosperity brought on a stagnation of the quarrying industry : towns were built up on hills and were fortified, meaning that the quarries on the plains were only used infrequently. Often the stone from old buildings was used to build new ones. Nevertheless, the stone from the quarries in Glanum and Cassis continued to be used for building (villas and sarcophagae). At that time it was the nobles and the Church who had control over the sector of quarries and their markets.

The Classical Age (XVI, XVII & XVIII centuries)
With the coming of an urban civilisation, the rebirth of antique models and the influence of Italian architecture, came an increase in interest for stone quarrying. Stone became a status symbol, which could be seen by all on the facades of noble residences which competed with one another to be the most beautiful, and also in the properties built in the countryside. Southern stone was being exported more and more, especially Provence, Languedoc and Pyrenees marble that the king used abundantly to decorate his palaces and castles (Versailles). In 1712, there were officially eight marble deposits, the most famous of which were those of Tholonet (Alep's breach), of Ssainte-Baume, Trets, Saint-Maximin and Grasse (whose marble was even exported to Russia !). The XVII Century saw the birth of a State which became more and more omnipresent and centralising : the Southern quarries became royal property and remained so until the Revolution in 1789.

The Industrial Revolution (XIX century)
Technical progress and emerging liberal capitalism then brought great prosperity to stone. Along with iron, these two noble and durable materials marked urban development and the image of “modern” towns. Railways enabled stone to be transported all over the land to the worksites. Quarrying entered into a phase of industrial production whilst the number of workers increased. Southern quarries even had their own sales people who travelled throughout the country in search of new markets.

It was also the period of mergers and concentrations. In most of the quarries, the blocks of stone were carried by carts to the nearest station, whence they were exported to cities in France and Switzerland. Many awards were then made to the Carrières du Midi for the quality of their products : (silver medal at the Universal Exhibition in Paris in 1878, gold medal at the Lyon Exhibition in 1894).

Industrial quarrying also brought about a division of work and diversification in the different trades linked to stone : on the quarry sites the quarryman cut and squared the blocks, aided by day workers who prepared the land (clearing, stoning, deep-ploughing, flaking, ..). A quarryman's work was made up of different phases requiring specific skills and tools. As for the Stonemasons, they were to be found mainly on the building sites where the blocks were erected.

In the Twentieth Century...
The “golden age of stone” continued till the twenties when the discovery of new materials (concrete, armed cement) meant the end of the use of stone because of the cost of labour . After the Second World War, the rebuilding programmes did not use stone, and as in the U.S.A. armed concrete was used. The quarrying and transforming of stone, which entailed very high labour costs, then entered a phase of necessary modernisation and mechanisation, which were the only ways to ensure the future survival of quarries.

(extracted from the Technical Guide of the Pierres du Sud association)