2024-08-28 08:14:29
Known as “Saxon marble,” porphyry was long in demand far beyond the state. But the order situation has changed – and is causing difficulties for a traditional company.
After more than 400 years, a company is stumbling: the Saxon company Vereinigte Porphyrbrüche auf dem Rochlitzer Berge GmbH is insolvent. The company is known for mining the natural stone porphyry, which is also known as “Saxon marble”. The “Freie Presse” was the first to report on the insolvency. Reinhard Klose was appointed as the provisional insolvency administrator, as can be seen from the official announcement.
“The crucial point is that we suddenly had significantly fewer orders,” said managing director Klaus Kalenborn to the “Freie Presse”. This was a surprising turn of events, as only a year ago Kalenborn had spoken of a good order situation. At that time, the company had five employees.
Rochlitz porphyry is used in gardening and landscaping, in tombstones and monuments, and in construction. For example, the Fertility Fountain in Berlin and the grave of Immanuel Kant in Königsberg (Kaliningrad) were made from the reddish volcanic rock.
Since 2022, Rochlitz porphyry has also been allowed to call itself a “Heritage Stone”, awarded by the International Union of Geological Sciences. The porphyry tuff is the first German natural stone to receive this award.
Porphyry is a collective term for volcanic rocks that have large, well-formed crystals in a fine-grained matrix. The building material was mined in the Egyptian Empire and was particularly popular during the time of the Roman Emperor Constantine at the end of the 3rd century. Well-known uses of porphyry include the baptismal font in Magdeburg Cathedral, the Venetian Tetrarch Group at St. Mark’s Basilica in Venice and the sarcophagus of Napoleon Bonaparte.