33. The stone parquet at Sechseläutenplatz

In yesterday's post I mentioned the stone parquet that was being laid in the plaza in front of the opera house. I should say that while I've been calling it the plaza in front of the opera house, it is probably more correct to say that the opera is located on the plaza, as it is a large space and many buildings front onto it. It's actually a very well used space, and in the past it was occupied by some event or the other for 8 months out of the year.

Here is a photo showing the stone pieces that make up the parquet. The stone is quartzite from Vals, in canton Graubünden. If I understand it correctly, it took a year to quarry the stone for the 16 000 square meter area. I know that a lot of thought went into this choice, I just hope the material can stand the heavy use that the area gets.