Παλιά λατομεία και σχιστήρια της Τήνου [Old quarries and stone-hewing installations of Tinos]

The Piraeus Bank Group Cultural Foundation’s publication Παλιά λατομεία και σχιστήρια της Τήνου [Old quarries and stone-hewing installations of Tinos], by Alekos E. Florakis, enriches the bibliographic contributions to marble crafts on the island of Tinos. Using the work cycle around quarries and stone-hewing installations as its point of reference, the book reveals the microcosm of Tinian marble crafts: seeking out good-quality marble, identifying and exploiting new quarry sites, the working conditions and the processing and marketing conditions of the raw material shape a special reality in “marble-bearing” Tinos, from the 17th through to the second half of the 20th century.

Author Alekos E. Florakis completed the work after long years of in situ research, of recording quarries and stone-hewing installations on the island, of studying archival and bibliographic material, but also by exploiting the personal testimonies of quarriers and stonemasons. The book presents in detail - supported by rich photographic material - the form and organisation of the quarries extracting pure marble in four regions of Tinos: the important quarries/stone-hewing installations of Fabrica (Vathy) and Vathi (Faneromeni), the quarries of green marble, as well as all the business activities developed around the extraction and commercial trading/exploitation of marble.