The Limestone Mosaic

One of my hobbies is an extravagant project:

I am compiling a mosaic of aesthetically pleasing limestones from all over the world. While most of the samples come from localities which I have visited on my holiday and study trips, I also include technical "marbles" and limestones which are used in the natural stone industry. Any limestone piece that contains well preserved and/or beautiful fossils, or has unusual colors or structures is interesting to me. A special focus is given to historic "marbles" which were already quarried in medieval times. All rocks are cut to squares of exactly 15 x 15 cm or 10 x 10 cm (thickness around 1 - 2 cm) and polished. In the near future, all squares should finally be joined to create a mosaic of several square meters in size and end in a museums exhibit.

The whole venture is actual just a side project, but is steadily growing! Furthermore, many of my "rejects" are included as thin sections and polished hand specimens for teaching purposes in the microfacies collection at the Institute of Paleontology of the University Erlangen-Nuremberg. These specimens are used regularly during the inter-university course "Investigation Methods for Microfacies of Carbonate Rocks".

The Project continues!

Anyone who wants to contribute to the limestone collection or who has information about regions or quarries where nice limestones can be found, is very welcome to contact me.

Any donation of limestone samples is highly appreciated.