be most easily dressed, viz., limestone and sandstone, though for the erection of
fortresses, castles etc., the harder kinds of stone were also employed.
During the 16th century, there were erected a great number of buildings in limestone
and sandstone. Still livelier did this architectural activity become during
the following century, especially after the close of the 30 Years’ War, when
the great captains, on their return home, had stately mansions and castles erected
in Stockholm and in the.country. For the majority of these buildings, granite
began to be more widely employed.
In the middle of the 18 th century a change was made, brick becoming the
sole building material, and this so exclusively that not only granite, but also
those kinds of stone that can more easily be worked were completely neglected.
For nearly a century, granite, as a building material, was almost forgotten.
The construction of canals during the first part of the 19th century, however,
once more directed public attention to this kind of stone, as being that which
was most suitable for works o f this and similar kinds. It was, most certainly,
the experience he gained of the excellent qualities of granite as a building stone
that led Nils Erieson to establish stone-works in Malmon, near Lysekil.
The Malmon stone-cutting and stone-polishing works soon found imitators in
Bohuslan, Halland, Blekinge, Smaland, Ostergotland, and, later on, in Skane, the
latter province being the chief seat of production of the beautiful and valuable
“black granite” (diabase) in Sweden.1
Bohuslan granite, from its beautiful colour and fine grain, is now used on
an extremely large scale both for constructional and ornamental work, not only
in Sweden, but also abroad, and especially in Denmark, Germany, and Great
Britain.
Of the granites in Smaland, the beautiful red stone from Virbo, TJthammar,
and Vanevik, have been exported in undressed blocks to Germany, Scotland and
England, where it is employed for monuments, pedestals, etc.
From the Alvdal porphyry works, which were established in 1778, there issued
during the course of nearly a century, numerous productions executed in this
magnificent and richly coloured stone, which came into well-deserved demand,
both at home and abroad. The articles produced by means of the remarkable
and ingenious machinery that was employed for the treatment and polishing of
the hard porphyry were mostly ornamental in character, such as urns, vases,
candlesticks, letter-presses, brooches, buttons, etc.
Potstone, from Handol in Jamtland, has long been quarried and worked up,
chiefly for stoves, small domestic vessels, and decorative objects.
Clay-slate is chiefly used for making roofing-slates. It is quarried at Gryt-
hyttehed, in Vastmanland, and at Hallan and Halangen, in Dalsland.
Sandstone is one of the most important building-stones found in Sweden, this
being due to the relative ease with which it can be quarried and dressed, and
also to its power of resistance to weathering. Its chief varieties are the following
:
Gdvle sandstone, quarried at a good many places between Gavle and Storvik.
South and south-east of Gavle there occur masses of sandstone-block, the so-
called Boslag sandstone, which has been much employed for buildings in Stockholm,
in both earlier and more recent styles.
Oved sandstone, from Skane, ■ with its fine grain and its warm red colour,
has come greatly into use of late.
Gottland sandstone, which was much used in earlier times for the adornment
of all the churches in the island.
1 “Black granite” is a technical and not any petrographical term. It includes the following
rocks: diabase, diorite, hyperite, and gabbro.
At the foot of the Vastgota Hills there exists sandstone, which is quarried
at Kinnekulle, Billingeto, Lugnas, etc. In this group there is also included the
Narke sandstone, which is quarried at Sjotorp, east of Örebro, and at other
places.
Dala sandstone, which is found over a large area between the eastern and the
western branches of the. river Dalalven.
At Simrishamn, and in Runno in Kalmar Sound, there is found a sandstone
that is employed for making grindstones.
Limestones and marble. Among the most important of the limestones of
Sweden, special mention must be made of the Kolmdrd marble, whose greenish
tinge, caused by the serpentine existing in this variety, makes it an extremely
original variety and one, we venture to think, almost unique amongst the many
kinds of marble. Kolmard marble is nowadays n o , longer used for exterior
architecture, as it has proved to be too sensitive to weathering. The marble,
however, is a first-class raw material for interior facings, for columns, wall-
facings and floorslabs, etc., and, when polished, especially in combination with
bronze, has a singularly beautiful effect. In addition, Kolmard marble has
from early times been employed for making many kinds of large and small
decorative articles.
The Lower Silurian, close-grained limestones of Sweden have also been employed
on a large scale in both early and recent times. It is found in Skane,
Oland, and the more northerly Ians.
The Upper Silurian limestones are found in Gottland and in Skane. At
present they are quarried on a large scale north of Visby.
The comparative statistics issued by the statistical branch of the Board
of Trade supply further information respecting the development and extent of
the Swedish stone industry. The figures given are, however, very incomplete
for the first few years of issue, as only very few and incomplete reports were
received from stone-works and stone-polishing works. The following figures are
taken from the statistics mentioned:
Stone No. of Value of outp
works hands kr.
1865 . . . . . . . . 4 211 101 000
1880 . . . . . . . ,. 22 1737 641 000
1890 . . . . . . . . 43 1912 1 213 000
1895 . . . . . . . . 124 6 379 4 411 000
1900 . . . . . . . . 228 11 697 11063 000
1905 . . . . . . . . 299 12 346 13 647 000
1910 . . . . . . . . 347 13 815 19 251 000
1911 . . . . . . . . 357 13 913 19534 000
1912 . . . . . . . . 359 13 925 20173 000
O f ' the total value of the output of stone for 1912, that of Göteborg och
Bohus län amounted to 8 347 000 kronor, or, approximately, 41 % of the whole.
Then come, in the order given: the Läns of Blekinge, Kristianstad, Malmöhus,
and Kalmar.
Felspar. From the 46 felspar quarries worked during 1911 there were obtained,
according to the report sent in — which, however, must be considered as
rather incomplete — 34 300 tons of a stated value of 333 000 kronor, which,
on an average, makes about 10 kronor per ton.
Quartz. In 1912 there were quarried 22 400 tons of quartz, with a stated
value of 103 000 kronor.
The great development of the stone industry during the last decade of the 19th
century was, it is true, the result in some measure of an essential increase in
the employment of undressed varieties of stone, for various purposes within the