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| Detail of a verde antique column in the Church of Saints Sergius and Bacchus (now the Küçuk Ayasofya Camii) in Istanbul,Turkey (527-536 CE). |
Verde Antique, is a serpentinite breccia popular since ancient times as a decorative facing stone. It is a dark, dull green, white-mottled (or white-veined) serpentine, mixed with calcite, dolomite, or magnesite, which takes a high polish. It is sometimes classed, erroneously, as a variety of marble ("serpentine marble", "Connemara marble", "Moriah stone", etc). It has also been called and marketed as "ophicalcite" or "ophite".
Verd antique is used like marble especially in interior decoration and occasionally as outdoor trim.
It was known as lapis atracius to the ancient Romans and was quarried especially at Casambala, near Larissa, Thessaly, in Greece. Verd antique was much used by the monumental builders of the Byzantine Empire and by the Ottomans after them. The term "verd antique" has been documented in English texts as early as 1745.
The Verde Antico marble has been used in many prestigious projects and remains an excellent choice for the interior design.
It has excellent physicomechanical properties which includes high hardness, low water absorption and high gloss.
It is used for floors, fireplaces, bath walls, stairs and generally all the possible interior uses.
For exterior it is not advised to be in direct contact with the sun when it is polished, because by the time it's vivid color is fading. Instead it can give wonderful results in sandblasted or bushammered finish in floors or claddings!
A special offer is on for this beautiful material.
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