Granite is an igneous rock originating from the slow crystallization of molten magma cooling deep beneath the Earth's surface. The word 'granite' is derived from the Latin: granum, meaning grain. It describes the granular texture of the rock. The three main minerals easily recogized in granite are feldspar, mica, and quartz.

It is the varying color and density of each of these minerals along with differences in their cooiling times which combine together to give the many different surface appearances of the rock, depending on where in the world it is quarried. Moreover, being homogenous in composition, igneous rocks are said to be 'massive' unlike sedimentary rocks which are composed in layers or beds of varing thickness. These qualities make granite the hardest, strongest and most durale of all building stone.