Other forms: lapis lazulis
Lapis lazuli is a deep blue gemstone that's been mined in Afghanistan since the seventh millennium BCE and is still used today to make jewelry and ornaments.
Lapis lazuli is a rock containing various minerals, including lazurite, which gives it its brilliant blue hue. Polished to a high shine, lapis lazuli has been used in jewelry, decoration, and sculpture for thousands of years. When it's ground into powder, lapis lazuli can also be made into a pigment called ultramarine, a favorite of European Renaissance painters. In Latin, lapis lazuli means "stone of azure," or "stone of sky blue."