Transactions of the Karelian Research Centre of the Russian Academy of Sciences (Oct 2016)
FROM SHOKSHA TO PARIS (THE HISTORY OF QUARRYING, TRANSPORTATION AND CARVING STONE FOR THE SARCOPHAGUS OF NAPOLEON)
Abstract
The sarcophagus of Napoleon in The Dôme des Invalides in Paris is made of quartzite, a unique ornamental stone from Karelia, NW Russia, but not of porphyry or granite. This beautiful stone is similar in colour and structure to famous antique porphyry from Egypt. However, there are no more monoliths left in antique quarries. The authors focus the reader’s attention on evidence for the prospecting and quarrying of quartzite near Shoksha village on the Onega Lake shore, the delivery of monoliths to Paris and their carving. Photographs of the signs of the primary sedimentary genesis of the stone, such as lamination, microfaults and the displacement of the laminae, taken by A. I. Brusnitsyn are presented. J. Touret has revealed the bimodal size distribution of the quartz grains and found that their morphology is typical of the recrystallization of smaller grains subjected to high-temperature metamorphism. In 1846, the writer and journalist Léouzon Le Duke left Paris for Russia to look for and quarry a suitable stone. On arrival in St. Petersburg, he invited the engineer J.-F. Bouyatti to join him as an assistant. Emperor Nicholas I allowed the men to start quarrying without paying the cost of the stone quarried and taxes. France payed all the costs of the startingup of the quarry, the quarrying operations and the transportation of the blocks (38 m3). It took over three months to transport the blocks on river and sea ships from the Onega Lake shore to Paris. Technical calculations showed that the carving of the hard quartzite would take several years. Therefore, for the first time in history, steam machines driven by monolith-cutting, carving and polishing mechanisms were created. It was a real technological revolution. It took two years to make the sarcophagus; the work was finished by the end of 1853. In the authors’ opinion, Shoksha quartzite can be registered as a world cultural heritage stone.
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