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Lapidarium: The Secret Lives of Stones by Hettie Judah
4.0
Lapidarium is a chamber of stones – a jumbled collection of lithic curiosities. The green copper roof of the lapidarium at the Czech National Museum in Prague shelters architectural fragments and statuary dating back to the eleventh century. The lapidarium at Avignon houses Greek, Roman and Etruscan sculptures, and the chipped remains of early Egyptian and Celtic endeavour. Rather than a museum, this lapidarium takes the form of a storybook. Each tale is led by a different stone, from Alunite to Turquoise, spanning the globe (and beyond), reaching back through history to early Earth. Like waves plucking at shingle, these stories dart from subject to subject, snatching at tumbling fragments from
archaeology, geology, mythology, literature, science, sociology and philosophy.