Natural stones in the cities - an easy way to focus on rocks and geology

Stones and thus building stones are very rarely in the focus of public interest. Geologists working with building stones use every opportunity to interest and sensitize people to this topic. Natural stones have served as building stones since time immemorial and they can be found in almost every town and village right before our eyes. They only need to be made visible to the viewer. Besides the explanation of the rocks, their petrographic and mineralogical composition, contained fossils and structures, technical features as well as their weathering behavior, one can point out many other aspects. This includes the geology of the area, geological timetable, mining, processing, transportation and use in past times and today, as well as aspects of restoration. Many geologists took and take advantage of this opportunity for geological and cultural education. They have written natural stone guides for several cities and organize natural stone excursions through their cities.

 

The German network “Stones in the city” has compiled a bibliography on this topic, which is constantly updated (www.steine-in-der-stadt.de). The bibliography contains just over 1100 entries on publications of dimension stones in cities worldwide. The time frame of the recorded publications is between the middle of the 19th century and the current year. The focus of this bibliographic collection includes the subject area of European building and decorative stones with a view of cultural geology. Some interesting aspects about the natural stone guides are presented in evaluation of this bibliography.