Vratza Limestone: the beige marble that everyone likes

Vratza is a limestone that is extracted in Bulgaria, of a rather uniform light beige color, with a very light hazelnut-colored dots.

It is a Limestone of which we always have a certain availability in our slab warehouse.
We directly import the blocks from Bulgaria from a few serious and reliable suppliers who supply us with medium-large size blocks, available in good quantities.
There are different types of Vratza marble: we prefer the first quality one with a “clean” cream/beige surface without stains with rare tiny points of manganese.

Another typology that is sometimes, but less frequently, requested is the “tiger skin” one which has small and medium-sized hazelnut-colored ovules on the surface.

What are the reasons for the market’s interest in Vratza marble?

First of all, its neutral color makes it suitable for all settings and is usually used both indoors to create floors, walls, stairs, shower trays, kitchen tops and outdoors for floors, walls, window sills and swimming pools.

Vratza Limestone is an extremely weather and frost resistant material, suitable for wetlands so much that it has been widely used in architecture since ancient times: there are very famous examples all over the world such as the cathedral and the University of Sofia.

In Ontario, Canada, the city of Kingston was nicknamed “Limestone City” because so many buildings were covered with Vratza marble.
In Dubai, the Limestone House at DIFC is another happy example of the use of this material in outdoor architecture.

Vratza marble lends itself well to various finishes such as polishing, brushing, smoothing, bush-hammering, waterjet processing and sandblasting, which give rise to a refined and not too flashy final effect.

As regards the “ordinary” maintenance of Vratza marble, we advise you to adopt the usual simple precautions that apply to all or almost all types of marble. It is not recommended to use acid products and abrasive sponges and brushes which can compromise the surface.

Instead, we suggest using pink denatured alcohol dissolved in water or neutral detergents dissolved in water such as Marseille soap and using damp cotton or suede cloths.
These are easy precautions which, however, are essential to keep the characteristics of a long-lived and reliable stone unchanged over time.