A slow growth

It is huge, yes it is! It is the biggest garnet crystal that’s ever been found on Alps. Crystals can grow much whether the original rock - as in this case a magmatic one - slowly cool down, leaving time for the atoms to form an organized structure: crystals! This belongs to a pegmatite, a filonian rock formed during the rising of the last “vapors” of magma which is cooling down in the depths of the Earth.