Lasamarmo at 11:42, 29 May 2026

2026-05-29T11:42:57Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 13:42, 29 May 2026
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	~~== General Information ==~~

	The systematic extraction of marble from Lasa begun around the half of the past century. Back in 1750, the Bavarian stonemason Johann Schmiedinger had already settled in Covelano, where he had purchased the mining rights for the mountain of Covelano. These were then transferred onto his descendants. These rights (along with those owned by Ludwig Veith in Val di Lasa) were acquired in 1848 by Bernhard Schweizer, a master mason from Munich. The latter used to provide marble for Schwanthaler, court sculptor at the service of Ludwig I of Bavaria. Carl Steinhauser, professor and sculptor at Karlsruhe, arrived in Lasa in 1865. He founded "Laaser Marmorwerke", the first centralized marble-processing company. In 1883 Josef Lechner began the systematic extraction of marble from the Withewater quarry. Lasa’s marble owes its worldwide reputation to these pioneers. Around the turn of the century, at the peak of its initial success, the precious material was primarily employed in artistic works, particularly in neighbouring European countries and in some royal houses overseas and in the U.S. Lasa’s marble is now very popular and appreciated worldwide. Examples include: Singapore, Riyadh, Kuala Lumpur, Auroville (India), Abu-Dhabi, Memphis Tennessee.

	~~== Towards worldwide fame ==~~

	~~=== The processing of boulders ===~~

	Lasa marble works can be found all over the world today. The first works created with the "Laaser Marmor”, or rather with what we now know as Lasa marble, were made by populations living near the early deposits. As of today it is not yet known when the extraction and use of Lasa’s marble began precisely. This white natural stone has always fascinated man. The extraction of this mineral dates back to several centuries ago. Initially, individual blocks were collected and processed. These were mostly rocks and boulders that had fallen and were carried downstream by rivers and landslides.

	~~=== The oldest evidence beyond the borders of Tyrol: Chur ===~~

	The oldest evidence of the use of marble from Lasa beyond the borders of Tyrol can be found in the capital of the Swiss Kanton ‘Graubünden’: Chur. A tombstone that Victor III, bishop of Chur, had ordered to be transported and carved around 720 AD, for a male inhabitant of Vinschgau whose name is not better identified, bears the inscription “Hic sub ista lapide marmorea qvem Vector ver in lvster preses ordinabit venire de Venostes hic reqviescit dominus”. Here lies this man; beneath this marble stone that the eminent count Victor has had transported from the Vinschgau.<br>Only in the late Middle Ages we find another indication that the marble from Lasa had been "exported" beyond the historical boundaries of this land.

	~~=== Tomb of the Habsburg dynasty in Prague ===~~

	In 1566, Emperor Maximilian II hired Alexander Colin (who had worked as a court sculptor for Archduke Ferdinand II in Innsbruck) to create a funerary monument for Ferdinand II and his wife Anne of Bohemia and Hungary in St. Vito’s Cathedral, Prague. Colin created the double gravestone between the years 1571 and 1573 after which the work was sent to Linz, where it remained until 1575 even though sledge transportation to Prague had been prearranged. Once it reached its destination, supposedly around 1576-77, the monument was expanded to accommodate and commemorate emperor Maximilian II, who had died in the meantime, by placing him alongside his parents.

	~~=== The Strudel brothers bring Lasa marble to the Viennese architecture ===~~

	The brothers Paul, Peter and Dominik Strudel from the city of Cles in ‘Val di Non’ were the first artists to make regular use of Lasa’s marble. They begun a proper extraction business and were granted concessions by the relevant authorities. The three brothers had received a professional training in their village’s carving workshops and had continued their work with Carl Loth from Monaco di Baviera, with the architect Baldassare Longhena and with Flemish sculptor Giusto de Conte in Venice. From 1686 they were in Vienna where they strenuously tried to obtain the favours of several patrons such as the princes Johann Adam I Liechtenstein and Johann von der Pfalz. Dominik Strudel (1667-1715) was an inventor and was able to conclude contracts for the improvement of drainage systems in various mining sites. His brother Peter made a rapid career as court and chamber painter. The two sculptors Paul and Peter Strudel initiated Vienna’s fascination with marble. Contrary to his brother Peter, Paul Strudel initially failed to enter the Imperial Court. This changed once the Plague Column in downtown Vienna had been completed under his direction in 1696. He then obtained a permanent position at court and was entrusted with the construction of a white Tyrolean marble gallery for the Habsburg emperor and his ancestors. During work on the Plague Column, Paul Strudel had found (and had claimed the discovery of) the Tyrolean marble deposits in the area of Sterzing (Vipiteno) and in the Vinschgau. He employed over 20 workers including masons, four Italians sculptors, a stonecutter and a blacksmith. Under Dominik’s supervision they extracted marble in the Vinschgau, presumably near Tafraz and Covelano. The marble was transported to Hall, in Tyrol, by means of wagons and from there taken to Vienna on barges.

	~~=== The marble from Lasa ‘conquers’ the Hapsburg’s Baroque style ===~~

	It was without doubt Michelangelo who brought Carrara marble to world fame. The Roman architect Giovanni Lorenzo Bernini built on the foundations that Michelangelo had laid in the sixteenth century and eventually took Baroque sculpture to its apex.  Bernini's work reflects the ideals of his time and has influenced artists beyond the borders of his country for decades after his death. His approach became a reference for many Italian and international sculptors who, starting from the mid-seventeenth century, flocked to Rome and other places where Bernini and his students had worked in order to learn his style and means of expression. From there they returned enriched with the dogmas of Roman sculpture, ready to pursue Bernini’s intents. The sculptor Matthias Bernhard Braun, a native of Sautens in the Ötztal valley, was one of the artists who, at the turn of the eighteenth century (a quarter of a century after Bernini’s death), became a messenger of his figurative art, investigating and extending its principles further. Braun had reached great fame as a sculptor in just a few years. He had his own workshop in Prague, the glowing heart of the Holy Roman Empire and of the German Nation. He worked mainly with soft sandstone from Bohemia but he was also familiar with Lasa’s marble. This is confirmed by the fact that his workshop employed the brothers Johann and Gregor Thény from Burgeis in the Vinschgau, two sculptors who knew the marble extracted near their hometown very well. The Carrara marble was not just expensive: transporting it to the countries north and east of the Alps was nearly impossible. The marble from Lasa was therefore the most suitable alternative. It also had an important feature that distinguished it from Carrara’s: a greater resistance to severe weather conditions. This characteristic was greatly appreciated, especially by those countries north of the Alps that are less likely to enjoy good weather. From a letter written by Braun in Prague and sent to Ötz on August 3rd 1718 we learn that he had ordered (even before 1718) three marble blocks from Tyrol, two of which were delivered at the end of July in that year passing through Linz. He writes that he wants to pay for the third piece on delivery. An entry by master mason Pietro Antonio Maggi from Silandro documents that a supply of marble for the Lambach abbey in Upper Austria was arranged for in that same year (1717). Maximilian Pagl, abbot of the Benedictine abbey of Lambach, recorded the purchase in his diary. On April 7th 1717 he wrote: "I have signed with Pietro Antonio Maggi, master mason from Silandro in Tyrol, a contract for the supply of the beautiful white marble from Silandro for two statues that will occupy the main altar. The marble will be transported to Hall by water. I promised payment of 4 florins and 30 Kreuzer per feet, and then I paid 15 florins in advance.”

	~~=== Lasa marble and Munich’s Classicism ===~~

	The neighbouring countries’ interest for the precious natural stone from Vinschgau increased with the inclusion of Tyrol (December 26, 1805) to the Bavarian electorate. In June 1826 (when Tyrol was again part of the multinational Habsburg empire), Leo von Klenze, a Bavarian Secret Counselor and building Superintendent at Court, visited the Vinschgau with a building inspector. Documentation shows that they had come for an inspection of the marble quarries, to ensure the material's suitability for various major projects to be undertaken in Munich. Klenze had, among other things, been entrusted with the general reorganization of building works in Munich. Examples of his work include the Marstall, Königsplatz, Ludwigstrasse, the Glyptoteque, the Haslauer-Block, the Loggia of the Glory, the old art gallery and the Residenz. Between 1826 and 1828 the Odeon was also built according to his plans. Other building works by Klenze include the Walhalla in Regensburg, the Hall of Liberation in Kelheim, the Konstitutionssäule in Gaibach and the Kanaldenkmal near Burgberg in Erlangen. His projects were often complemented by groups of statues by Ludwig Schwanthaler, a much sought after sculptor at the Bavarian court of Ludwig I. Bernhard Schweizer, a master mason from Munich, provided marble for the artist’s Bavarian clients for 20 years.  Ludwig Schwanthaler died in 1848 and Bernhard Schweizer, who had at certain times provided employment for up to 70 workers, began to trade marble on his own. Schwanthaler was a famous master of Classicist sculpture in southern Germany and introduced the saying “The Carrara is cheese, the Lasa lives”. The popularity of Lasa’s marble was still, however, limited to a few countries at this stage.

	~~=== Carl Steinhäuser founds "Laaser Marmorwerke" ===~~

	Professor Carl Steinhauser, a sculptor from Bremen, had seen the work of Ludwig Schwanthaler in Munich and had already become acquainted with the marble of Lasa in his youth, when he had crossed the region in 1835 en route to Rome, where he was to complete his training and begin a successful career. In 1863 he was offered a teaching post in a newly established art school in Karlsruhe. His sponsor, the Archduke Frederick von Baden, had also asked him to create sculptures for the garden of the castle of that city. Steinhäuser required marble supplies from Schweizer who was, however, seeking a more profitable way to exploit his rights. In 1864 he entered into a subcontract with Steinhäuser to extract in Covelano and Lasa. The expert quarry manager had understood that assigning extraction rights to contractors was more profitable than selling the marble itself. In 1865 Carl Steinhäuser and Peter Lenz, a fellow artist in Rome, established "Lenz εt Steinhäuser”, the first Lasa marble processing firm. Construction of a workshop in Lasa began in 1866. It was called the "Laaser Marmorwerke".

	~~=== Lasa’s marble gains worldwide fame thanks to the Universal Expo in Vienna ===~~

	Johannes, son of Carl Steinhauser, was soon in charge of the "Marmorwerke Laas”. He is credited with having brought fame to the natural stone from Lasa. The latter had already been presented in 1867 at the "Marmorata" in Rome, a famous market that supplied most of the local artists. The climax of Johannes Steinhäuser’s promotional activities was, however, the marble supply for the 1873 Universal Expo in Vienna. Thus the label "Laaser Marmor” was introduced for all the varieties of Vinschgau marble distributed by Steinhäuser as owner of "Marmorwerke Laas”. For over a decade Steinhäuser could manage the undercapitalized business with financial support from relatives and with the various positions he was offered, but in 1879 the economic situation worsened. Johannes Steinhäuser’s stepfather, a wealthy merchant from Bremen, intervened to optimize the transfer of Steinhäuser’s commercial rights over to the Wiener- Union Baugesellschaft, which had already represented Steinhäuser’s interests in Vienna in the past. The contract went into effect on 1 July 1881. Johannes Steinhäuser remained in the firm holding the post of artistic director until he died in 1892. The Wiener Union-Baugesellschaft later reintroduced “Laaser Marmor” to the Hasburg dynasty and, subsequently, to the whole of the Danubian monarchy and the most important European dynasties. Lasa’s world fame is also attributed to another pioneer. Josef Lechner (born in 1851) was in fact the real initiator of the industrial extraction of marble form Lasa.

	~~=== Josef Lechner initiates the industrial extraction of marble in Lasa ===~~

	In 1883 the municipality of Lasa gave Josef Lechner the concessions for the Whitewater quarry in Val di Lasa. Lechner also secured some of Ludwig Veith’s rights in the Nesselwand and Jenngraben quarries. Josef Lechner, who became soon known as "Marmor Lechner”, successfully invested in the best stone processing technologies of the time and exported his products worldwide. In some periods he gave employment to 100 workers. Joseph Lechner produced sculptures and other artistic works with Lasa’s marble, which had by then become very popular worldwide. He exported the marble to Austria, Hungary, Russia, Great Britain, Germany and even to distant countries such as Etiopia and the USA. His workshop has produced some famous monuments, including: a 3,5 meter high statue of Christ for the city of Riga, a statue of Christ and various other sculptures for Berlin and its Siegasallee, a large funerary monument (Braunschweig), the main altar in Marlengo near Merano and Queen Victoria’s monument, delivered to London in 1903. The opening of the Vinshgau railway in 1906, finally meant that Lasa’s marble could easily be exported to the whole world.

	== List of public works and buildings ==		== List of public works and buildings ==

Admin: Admin moved page Oeffentliche werke en to Public works

2025-04-09T08:08:54Z

Admin moved page Oeffentliche werke en to Public works

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Lasamarmo: /* Italy */

2024-07-04T05:43:34Z

Italy

← Older revision		Revision as of 07:43, 4 July 2024
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	*Navy Memorial, Piazza Trieste		*Navy Memorial, Piazza Trieste

			==== Cavedine ====

			*Statue of the Virgin Mary in the pilgrimage grotto

	==== Certosa (Florence) ====		==== Certosa (Florence) ====

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2024-06-26T11:49:52Z

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Lasamarmo at 11:42, 29 May 2026

Admin: Admin moved page Oeffentliche werke en to Public works

Lasamarmo: /* Italy */