A brilliant rich blue rock, prized in antiquity as a gemstone and a prominent pigment, lazurite is the basis of lapis lazuli, the original ultramarine paint and – as Brian Clegg finds – it even adorns Tutankhamun's death mask.

Lazurite: Chemistry in its element

A weekly tour of the periodic table, from Chemistry World, the magazine of the Royal Society of Chemistry.

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Lazurite: Chemistry in its element

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