In the course of centuries, the stone of Rance has been successively used as flagstone and rough stone. It reached a reputation when the polishing technique made it smooth and bright. It was the birth of a monumental marble industry in Rance whose market invaded not only the whole century but also the years after. Later, two more activities appeared: marble clocks and knick-knacks.

The rough stone was used during the Roman period. This affirmation seems to find a first confirmation with the results of excavations.

The cut stone: to judge from the pillars and their capitals in churches, the red marble of Rance may have been cut on the spot since the 12th or 13th century. The stone extracted was used as building stone!

The polish stone, we had to wait till the Renaissance to find the marble with all its magnificence of polished stone as the Greeks and Romans shaped it. The marble of Rance is no longer a rough and dull limestone as it was before. It is quarried and transported sometimes to very remote places such as Denmark and later to Versailles and everywhere in Europe and all over the world.

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