Lapis lazuli

The lapis lazuli (from the Latin lapis, 'stone', and from the classical Arabic lāzaward, coming in turn from Persian lağvard or lažvard, derived from Sanskrit rājāvarta, 'king's curl') or cianea is a gem of a characteristic ultramarine blue color, highly appreciated in jewelry since ancient times.

Features

Lapis lazuli is a rock used as a gem (semi-precious), composed of lazurite (calcium and sodium aluminosilicate), sodalite, calcite and pyrite.

It has a specific weight of 2.4 and a hardness of 5.5. It is not attackable by hydrochloric acid, a fact that facilitates its differentiation from other rocks such as lazurite that effervesces when reacting with dilute hydrochloric acid (10%).

Deposits

Virtually all the lapis lazuli used in ancient times in Eurasia was obtained from mines located in the western mountains found in the Hindukush of Afghanistan, which are still exploited with procedures very similar to those used thousands of years ago. In addition to finding it in Afghanistan, there are other deposits in Germany, Angola, Canada, Chile (north), the United States (California and Colorado), Argentina (Jujuy and Salta), Burma, Pakistan and Russia (Lake Baikal).

The Chilean site Flor de los Andes —located at 3,600 meters above sea level, in the Ovalle mountain range, east of Tulahuén, in the commune of Monte Patria— was found in the middle of the century XX. It is located in the external zone of an aureole of contact metamorphism, caused by the intrusion of an igneous pluton 24 million years ago, in which calcosilicates and haüyna were produced in areas of limestone rich in sodium and aluminum, and after an alteration later hydrothermal that provided sulfur and formed the lazurite that makes up lapis lazuli. The discovery of an arrowhead-shaped stone made of lapis lazuli in the vicinity of this place helped to discover in 1921 that this rock was probably known in prehistoric times of America by the Diaguitas and other pre-Columbian cultures.

Uses and myths

In ancient Egypt it was considered a very important and precious stone, adorning sacred scarabs with it, or in funerary masks. They also used it for medicine in powder form.

The powder of the mineral, lazurite (also azurite which is a different mineral), provided a blue pigment, ultramarine blue, and in the Middle Ages, it was used to produce the characteristic ultramarine blue pigment for painters. Furthermore, it was highly sought after among the great painters in Renaissance Europe, and in America by the painters of the well-known Cuzco school, for its stability and permanence of color. Leonardo da Vinci, Albrecht Dürer and Fra Angelico were some of the illustrious painters who gave it life, even calling lapis lazuli powder "blue gold." At that time, its price was more than four times the price of gold, and it was used in the decoration of furniture to give it value, some of which can be seen in large museums in Europe such as El Prado (Madrid, Spain), the Sforzesco Castle (Milan, Italy), or the Louvre (Paris, France), as well as in private collections.

Currently it is still used in the creation of jewelry, especially in Chile, which is exported in large quantities to Europe and the United States.

Lapis lazuli has been frequently engraved, when the fragments have been sufficient in size, in cups, vases and sculptures, among others. The crown treasury of France has many magnificent lapis lazuli objects, among others:

• A cup of piritose lapis in the form of large-scale clay
• A lapis crank that sultan Fateh Ali Tipu gave to Louis XVI
• A cubeta of quartz mixed lapis and 298 mm long and 166 mm high pines

Its blue color was considered a symbol of purity, health, luck and nobility, which led to it being used by Egyptians, Babylonians, and Assyrians, for decorations and funerary masks.

In Tibetan Buddhism, Bhaisajyaguru, the Medicine Buddha, is considered to obtain his healing power from this stone.

The kings of France in the 12th and 13th centuries were the first to make fashionable the use of clothing dyed in blue, extracted from this stone, which ended up being used in the pictorial production of subsequent centuries.

What's more, its blue color makes it one of the most beautiful stones in the world.

Honors

By decree 62 of the Ministry of Mining, it was declared "national stone of Chile" on November 23, 1984—combarbalite was also officially declared as such on November 22, 1993—.

Jules Rimet Trophy

The Jules Rimet trophy from FIFA World Cups before 1974 had a lapis lazuli base. The trophy was stolen in Brazil in December 1983 and was never heard from again.