Larvikite

Lars Larvikite is very proud to be Norway’s national rock! He is rare, but you can see his beautiful blue color on buildings in many places around the world, because he is really popular.

I am both incredibly beautiful and rare! You can only find me in Norway, in a rather small area. And I am named after the town where I was discovered: Larvik. Now, you might say that you come across me everywhere, but that’s only because my siblings and I have been sent all over the world as facing stone, countertops, tiles, and a whole lot of gravestones. When you find me as a pebble on the beach, however, I look very different.

It’s because of my blue color that I’m so popular. I have been transported by ice from the Larvik area and later washed by the waves, so you probably can’t see that I’m blue now. But you have surely seen me when I’m polished. Then you can see that I am made up of different crystals. I consist almost entirely of feldspar, but that doesn’t matter as long as the result is nice to look at!

Once, I was also molten deep down in the earth. And I thrived down there, my crystals could grow large and beautiful. Then it got cooler and the whole melt solidified. And I became larvikite. Our country has been through a lot since then, many glaciers have worn down the landscape. That’s why you can find me at the surface now.

In the Larvik area, you can see many quarries where my siblings and I are extracted to be sent out into the world.