On Monday, the day after Elder Holland's conference, all of the senior couples (two couldn't come) went to Carrara, a relatively small city about 3 hours south west of us, south of La Spezia, which is south of Genova (Genoa), both on the Mediterranean coast, and about an hour north west of Florence. Anyway, Carrara is on the seacoast and there are large mountains behind it. They have been quarried long since before the time of Christ for white marble, of which there is still a lot left. This is where Michelangelo went, in the 1500s to get marble for his statues, spending months at a time on the mountain (even sleeping there) to make sure he got what he wanted. Myrna and I drove with President and Sister Allen in a small Toyota Yaris (like what Jeff has, except ours also have electric motors), because their big van was being used by Elder Holland. The senior couple in Prato (a city north of Florence, where we were supposed to go) arranged for a sister in the Florence ward, an American with six children, who, with her husband, live near Florence. She is starting a tour business to take people to Carrara, especially LDS who want to see where the marble statues for the Church temple visitor centers are being made. She said we need to go soon before they take the statues to Rome for the temple, so we went on a special P-day.
She is in the pink top and the rest of us are senior missionaries. We met in the parking lot of a large supermarket, and you can see the mountains in the background.
We drove a ways up past the ancient city into the mountains, which took only about 15 minutes.
Until we got to a place we couldn't drive further. They had work shops there that were cutting some large chunks of marble, and the Christus status itself was made here.
There is an Italian tour business there, which she was connected with (they charged 10 and she charged 40, but we would not have got to see the Church statues without her.) On a clear day, and our day was fairly clear, you can see the Mediterranean from the top of the mountain.
This was our group; she liked to take pix of us. I think she is designing a marketing brochure.
There is one cave mine for marble, this one goes back about a kilometer, but most of the marble is cut right out of the side of the mountain, cutting from the top down.
They were certainly moving a lot of marble, going to the many work shops in the city, although there are a few on the mountain itself. Italians aren't very safety cautious, although we wore vests and hard hats. I am sure a lot of workers are killed, especially over the centuries when they were less careful.
This was our first view of the Christus for the temple in Rome, almost completed and ready for shipping. The white bags are full of marble chips, which will be ground down (it is calcium carbonate) and used for things like tooth paste.
Of course, everyone wanted their pix taken with Him. He was magnificent, to say the least.
They were cutting large chunks of marble with special saws.
And working on other statues.
Including other Christus statues. The one on the right is for the new Paris France temple, although it is not as large as the one for Rome. Some made for temple visitor's centers are not even solid marble, they are made of "cultured marble" which is a mixture of marble dust and resin, as are all of the little reproductions you can buy at places like Deseret Book.
Then we went to the waiting Jeeps for our ride up the mountain.
Our driver was an interesting guy, to say the least.
We passed many marble quarries. The Italian government owns the mountains and leases spots to different mining companies, and then charges them royalties to take out the marble.
It was a fairly clear day and we could see the Mediterranean Sea, although it was a bit hazy.
Looking east, the other direction from the ocean, there were more mountains.
Many of which are currently being quarried.
Our guide showed us a strand of the heavy wire used to cut the marble into large (like the size of a car, or larger) chunks; there are diamonds embedded in it. A lot different than the way it was cut in Michelangelo's day, when it had to be taken down the mountain either by donkeys or wooden skids, using soap for lube.
Then we came off the mountain and went to one of the many workshops in the city of Carrara. This one had lots of different types of stone, but the "queen" of the stones is, of course, the purest white marble, only used for statuary.
Looking between two large stones in the yard, I could see the stone cutter's garden, on the side of the hill, with tomatoes and other veggies growing.
Inside the shop there were cutters, sculptors and finishers. This one was working from a model on the right, beginning to sculpt a duplicate statue on the left.
There were two gigantic copies of Michelangelo's David (this is the actual size of the original). There are at least three of these in Florence, the original and two copies, and more copies are all over the world, and when these leave the shop there will be two more, but they didn't tell us where they are going. Our American guide guessed they cost millions of dollars each.
A worker was busy polishing David's backside.
There was a full size copy of Michelangelo's Pietà , the original of which is found in the Vatican. They also wouldn't tell us where this copy is going.
Then I saw one of the 12 apostles for the temple in Rome. They are all copies of statues that were made here in the 1830's by a Danish sculptor for the Lutheran Cathedral in Copenhagen. Each apostle has his distinctive emblem, by which they can be identified, which I need to look up to make sure of.
There were a few of the apostles already mounted on their pedestals, with their names in Latin, of course, inscribed below.
A worker was in the process of putting a pin in the bottom of an apostle, who they mounted right after we left (apparently they didn't want us to watch the process.)
We watched them move Phillip's pedestal, with that of Paul to the right.
We had our picture taken with some of the apostles.
In between these two apostles for the Rome temple is a nice Madonna, which they will put on top of the visitor's center (just kidding, but Italians would love it.)
John, the Beloved, is shown without facial hair, with an Eagle and his writing tablet.
The details are very life-like (David even has visible veins in his hands and arms). These apostles' fingers are about life size. I should have blown off the marble dust.
Made by this young worker who was copying a famous piece to the left.
Judas was still reclining, and is shown clasping his hands, hopefully praying for mercy.
The last sight we saw, as we went out the closing door, was all the workers gathered to help with putting an apostle on his pedestal. They take this stuff very seriously.
The name of the workshop where the apostles are being made is, in English, Studio of Art, Michelangelo's Cave, Inc., and they have a website.
Leaving the city of Carrara we passed this marble tower that says, if you could read it, Carrara dei Marmi, or Carrara of Marble.
On the way home we went through a lot of tunnels.
And a lot of little towns on hills, some with castles, for more adventures.
Ciao for now.
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