Stone-glass art with hallandia Gneiss, Sweden
Local native name
Year designation
Lithology
Aesthetics
Geological settings
Proterozoic – Fennoscandian Shield;part of a lithologically heterogeneous polymetamorphic high-grade orthogneiss complex (protolith rocks are 1,6 – 1,7 Ga old)
Location
Halland County, coastal areas
Stone-glass art with hallandia Gneiss, Sweden
An exclusive stone from Sweden
Remnants of about 500 quarries (including small examples) have been documented in the area. Today only 2 -3 quarries remain in operation. Today, the stone is most widely used for flooring and paving applications. Kitchen tops, stair steps etc are also quite common. It is, together with Swedish diabases, one of the most popular stone types used by architects for sculpted stone.
In the late 1800, during the Swedish industrialisation, the stone industry in Halland expanded greatly and export started with shipping primarily to Denmark, U.K. and Germany and for paving use. One of the bigger companies at that time, in Halmstad, had 400 – 500 workers employed.
To our knowledge, there is no UNESCO World Cultural Heritage based on the Hallandia gneiss. However, several prominent buildings in Sweden (mostly castles and manors) are protected by the Q-mark issued bye each municipality. The Q-mark is a designation for especially valuable heritage buildings etc.
Mostorp torn, Denmark
Hallandia Gneiss – varieties
- Author(s)
Björn Schouenborg
