Speaking as an architecture student, they most certainly could be replicated today. Unfortunately, we rely so much on our technology, we’ve lost that value we used to place in craftsmanship. Look at any of the rococo churches or Gothic cathedrals. We can’t replicate that nowadays. You’d still need to find a master and dedicate your life’s work to that specific pursuit, but we’re still capable of those things.
These blocks specifically… It’s important to bear in mind that, in those times, people didn’t wake up at 7, grab a coffee, go to work until 5-6, and then go home. If there was a public works project the king decided he wanted done, and you were a peasant laborer, you wake up, carve your block exactly as specified, go to sleep, and repeat until either the block is finished or you’ve died of old age, whichever comes first. Wikipedia has some information about the actual carving of the blocks themselves.
I took a stonecarving class last semester with a local master sculptor. It’s hard work, and it’s a difficult process, but even getting a perfectly straight line or hole in a piece of stone is nowhere near impossible, it just takes skill, dedication, and motivation. And practice and callouses.
