Swanson School of Engineering

When I first arrived at the Carrara quarry, I was surprised by the pure scale of the mountains and how we couldn’t even see the top due to the fog. Hearing the explosions from the dynamite in the background really set in to perspective where we were at the time. Driving up all the windy and narrow roads along the side of the mountain was definitely a sight to see and made you feel almost a little uneasy about it, but also exciting. I was a little disappointed we couldn’t explore the interior of the mines, but I understand that safety takes precedent over adventure in these types of scenarios. It’s really crazy to think about the amount of material they have extracted from here over the past 2000 years and how the evolution of technology is making the process easier. The fact that generations ago they were manually cutting these blocks of marble out of a literal mountain is mindblowing. I can’t imagine how long it took to cut out enough material for all the structures I’ve seen that have been made out of it.