Carrière du Roy - marbre rouge — Attraction in Carcassonne

Fascinating history of the red and white marble of which panels grace the Palace of Versailles and was much loved by Louis 14th - so much that it became known as the Royal quarry! The quarry still functions and produces enormous blocks of marble for export. The town of Caunes-minervois hosts sculpture workshops, and the artists use this marble to carve and polish huge statues which you can see lining the road from the town to the quarry and which are also displayed all over town. The walk up past the quarry and down into the gorge is very pleasant and fairly easy. It takes you past the old quarry workings which are well described on information displays - unfortunately only in French. You can see that the whole mountain stone in that area is basically the red and white striated marble. Wonderful and...

Magnifique point de vue automnal , sur le sentier qui mène à la carrière du Roy, dans la partie postérieure du site qui était exploitée au temps des romains et dont le marbre rouge si particulier a servi à la construction du petit panthéon à Paris. La partie interdite au public est tout de même accessible, car on peut acheter du marbre sur place, et est actuellement exploitée par une société Italienne. L'ensemble forme une formidable opportunité de promenade familiale en été ou en saison plus fraîche, le site garde tout son charme et il est parsemé d'explication sur les techniques d'extraction du marbre à l'époque des romains. Très instructif et...

Not for the faint hearted! We parked in Caunes Minervois village and walked up....man did we deserve the flask of coffee when we got to the top. A beautiful walk, with...