Marble Quarry Glacier Gorge

In the northern walls of Mettenberg, Wetterhorn and Wellhorn colorful marble occurs in thin layers. The significant  occurrence was discovered in 1730 at the bottom of the Lower Grindelwald glacier. The blocks were exploited in a quarry and transported to Bern. There they were processed in the marble sawmill of the sculptor Johann Friedrich Funk to mantelpieces, gravestones, console tables and altars. Especially coverings for chests of drawers manufactured by Funk’s brother Matthew used as "radio-chests" were among the most requested furniture of that epoch. 
A distinctive advance of the Lower Grindelwald glacier ended in 1760 the marble quarrying temporarily. The quarry under the ice fell into oblivion for decades. When the glacier retreated mid 1860-ies within a short time, suddenly surprising findings came to light: Big, beautifully carved marble blocks and tools with which they had been processed. They started again with the marble exploitation. However, the competition of quarries at more convenient locations in the Valais and abroad was too big, so the quarrying was stopped definitively at the beginning of the 20th century.