ABSTRACT
While not having the functionality of steel and concrete, marble nonetheless played a central role in modern architectural expression. Its physical and aesthetic qualities place the material among the most powerful of artistic media. Marbles are the result of the metamorphic recrystallization of primeval carbonate-dominant lithic materials, protoliths that are mainly limestones containing also minor silicate accessory minerals. Mining and quarrying have been shown to have been systematically organized within the Roman Empire, with a variety of marble materials carved out of the rock and shipped over long distances. The marble paneling surrounding the basement floors is the ideal medium for introducing modern architecture into the heart of the Viennese cityscape. A more conservative position emerged in the 1930s, when finished marble surfaces were charged with an entire set of symbolic qualities that soon became functional to the nationalistic policies then emerging in Germany, Italy, and other parts of Europe.
