• March 29, 2024

Beautiful stairs, durable window sills, reliable worktops - granite, polished, in the colors of nature. They will undoubtedly delight everyone. Today, stone easily surrenders to the technique and experience of stone masters. But, uh... it wasn't always like that.

Stonemasonry is one of the oldest professions in the world, but the passing time does not make its mark on it. In a negative sense, of course. Craft does not disappear.

Technique in the service of the art of masonry

For centuries - invariably - an indispensable tool in this profession has been... a hammer. To be more precise, two: a rubber hammer (also called a sheet metal hammer) is used to lay, among others, granite slabs, sensitive to impact, and a paving hammer (simply called a stonemason's hammer) with an explosive ending bluntly on both sides.

For this it is necessary to have a reflector to split the stone fragments and to prepare the so-called moulds (split rock blocks). An inseparable attribute of this work is also an abrasive and polishing disc. But the basis of the quarry work is the one that has been proven for centuries... explosives that separate rock blocks from the talisman.

However, the pickaxe and shovels gradually replaced the technique in the quarries. Today, stonemasons have at their disposal diamond saws, thermal burners and splitters. Rock blocks are ground, polished, flamed and grained - these processes are fully automated.

Stonemasonry - the art of millennia

But the love of stone has remained unchanged for centuries. It sounds pretty... atypically, but in order to understand it, one has to reach for the sources. Stone was essential for people's lives - it was the first tool of man, it also proved its worth in building houses. It was also an element preserving the cult - words carved in stone, monuments, buildings and stone tombs survived for decades and are still a testimony to very distant times.

Stonemasonry has been developing very well since the beginning of our civilization - for example in Egypt, India, China. In Poland, its development dates back to the 10th century, and the peak of its popularity is the Romanesque period. It was then that stonemasonry became a permanent part of not only the construction industry, but also stones were appreciated in interior design.

Over the centuries, stone processing techniques, rock selection, rock composition and application have changed. The methods of framing entrances, stairs and walls were also changed. Professionals use this diverse knowledge and experience to this day. To this day we are also delighted with marble, granite or sandstone. Without them, the interiors of famous monuments or churches would not look as elegant and timeless. And modern technology allows for more and more interesting applications.

In the search for the soul hidden in the... stone...

Granite - a magma rock, resistant to wear and tear - is particularly suitable for use as flooring and kitchen worktops. Formed in high temperatures and unpredictable volcanic conditions, it surprises with its variety of colours. But marble - or transformed limestone - is suitable for wall and floor finishes, inside and outside buildings. In these latter conditions, the glossy sandstone is also very well suited for use in varying weather conditions. Another stone worth recommending is also semi-precious onyx, used not only as an element of decoration, but also is used in... lighting installations.

For centuries, it was stone that gave the interiors of houses or entire buildings their individual character. Natural raw material is not only a decoration in itself, because it can be successfully combined with wood and metal. This gives an even wider range of applications offered by professional stone masons.

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