The Ancient White Marble Quarries of Paros

Historical Background

Historically, the Island of Paros was known for its fine white marble and, today, abandoned marble quarries can be found in abundance on the island. The main groups of ancient quarries are located near the village of Marathi. They were in operation from the Early Cycladic period (3,200 BC) until the 19th century. They include a number of magnificent underground galleries created from the extraction of marble. All set within an enchanting natural environment.

Best known are two underground quarries, the Quarry of the Nymphs and the Quarry of Pan, the source of the extremely pure and highly translucent lychnites marble. Nearby, in a location called Lakkoi, there are at least 20 opencast quarries of different shapes and sizes. They were the source of coarser grained marble than lychnites and mainly used in architectural works and are older than those of Nymphs and Pan, already in use in the 7^th Century BC.

The Parian marble became the dominant medium in monumental art from the 6^th century BC and maintained its dominant position through the classical period and afterwards up to the 3^rd century AD. Hermes of Praxiteles, Venus de Milo, Augustus of Prima Porta are just a few of the famous works of art adorning major museums in Europe.

Parian marble was exported not only in rough blocks but also in the form of art works, such as statues, columns, funerary monuments, stelai or sarcophagi. Marble artists’ workshops flourished in Paros. Exports of fine works and semi-finished works of art were often accompanied by Parian sculptors. Works produced in Parian marble have been located in an extensive area from the Black Sea to Spain.

This huge industrial and commercial activity brought economic prosperity as well as splendour to Paros in ancient times. The capital city of the city-state of Paros was known as the “brilliant city” of Paros, due to its embellishment with works made of Parian marble. It was a substantial city of 40,000 inhabitants including a large number of slaves working under harsh conditions in the quarries.

The ancient quarries were revived in the 19^th century with a succession of foreign companies extracting the remaining deposits of lychnites. The disused quarries were largely forgotten in the first half of the 20^th century, and it was only from the 1960s onwards that local people and the growing numbers of tourists started paying attention to these, by then, hidden treasures.The quarries were designated a protected ‘archaeological site’ in 1974 and this was extended in 2000 to include the quarries at Lakkoi.  It covers nearly 200 ha, owned in its entirety by a number of private owners. In 2018, the part that contains some substantial but largely derelict industrial buildings from the 19^th century operation of the quarries, was additionally designated as a ‘historic place’.