Solnhofener Planking

Solnhofener planking has an interesting history. In the 19th century, lithography was the printing method and used flat plates for printing. Solnhofener occurs naturally as flat sheets and is quarried that way. It was used to produce lithographic printing plates until the 1920’s. New printing technologies emerged on the market and used cylinders as the printing surface. One quarry owner saw an opportunity and began to sell Solnhofener as an interior flooring product to save their business.