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Tuesday, January 9, 2018

Geode Installation Timelapse Now On View

American Museum of Natural History
Geode Installation Timelapse
The AMNH recently unveiled a 12-foot-tall, 9,000 + pound amethyst geode from Uruguay, one of the largest in the world, that will anchor its all-new Halls of Gems and Minerals. 
Watch a timelapse video of the massive treasure making its way into its new home.
Video courtesy of the American Museum of Natural History: https://www.amnh.org

Look what just arrived! This 12-foot-tall sparkling amethyst geode from Uruguay is one of the world’s largest. It was born when molten magma poured from the Earth’s crust 135 million years ago. View it in the Museum’s Grand Gallery through the 2017 holiday season.   
With this big geode comes big news for the Museum: The halls of gems and minerals will undergo a complete redesign to transform the 11,000-square-foot space into a gleaming showcase for a world-renowned collection. The halls will be named for Roberto and Allison Mignone. 

In addition to the 12-foot-tall geode, the Allison and Roberto Mignone Halls of Gems and Minerals will feature several other large-scale specimens and redesigned exhibits that will tell the story of how approximately 4,500 minerals arose on our dynamic planet, how geologists classify them, and how humans have shaped them into gems and used them throughout history for personal adornment, tools, and technology. 

A dramatic feature of the new Halls will be a stunning Crystalline Pass on the north side, which will be a link to the new Richard Gilder Center for Science, Education, and Innovation.

In addition to the amethyst geode now on view in the Grand Gallery, specimens in the new hall will also include a second, 9-foot-tall amethyst geode and a massive panel of fluorescent rock, which will be the centerpiece of a new fluorescence and phosphorescence gallery. Other special galleries will include a gem gallery and a space for rotating exhibitions.

Favorites from the current galleries and from the Museum’s collections—such as the Star of India blue sapphire, the 632-carat Patricia Emerald, and the so-called "subway garnet"—will return to view in the new Mignone Halls of Gems and Minerals.

Along with the multi-year project to update, restore, and conserve the Northwest Coast Hall, which was announced last month, the renovation of the Halls of Gems and Minerals is part of a series of physical and programmatic enhancements to historic parts of the institution leading up to its 150th anniversary and the opening of the Richard Gilder Center for Science, Education, and Innovation. 

The 12-foot-tall amethyst geode will remain on view in the Grand Gallery throughout the 2017 holiday season. 
Construction on the new Mignone Halls of Gems of Minerals will begin with the closure of the current halls on October 26.

12-Foot Amethyst Geode Now On View
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