Onion at the Royal Academy

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Following on  from the 'mintcake' Carrara marble I blogged about previously:  This column, in London's Royal Academy of Arts, is cipollino (little onion) marble - the green colouration comes from bands of chlorite and epidote.  Looking at it, it is easy to see how it got its name!  Both the ancient Greeks and the Romans used to quarry it, mainly for use as columns.  That still seems to be the case now; Westminster Cathedral (The Catholic one at Victoria) used it for the same purpose and, if memory serves, for a number of panels as well.  

We happened to be at the RA for an exhibition and I was pleased to see this column there; I greeted it like an old friend.

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