Natural History Museum New York Gemstones

In Photos: See Inside The American Museum Of Natural Historys New Hall Of Gems Dedicated To Natures Art

The hall has been completely renovated to showcase “nature’s art.”

Sarah Cascone, June 9, 2021

Four years ago, the Halls of Gems and Minerals at New Yorks American Museum of Natural History closed for long-overdue renovations. The cavelike space, deliberately designed to evoke the feeling of the mines where many of the specimens on display had been excavated, had been essentially untouched since 1976.

This week, it reopens to the public and features some 5,500 objects, from polished diamonds to rough-hewn sandstone.

I think its fair to say that no space, no gallery is quite as glittering as these new halls, museum president Ellen Futter said at the press preview.

The 11,000-square-foot halls have traditionally been one of the museums most beloved attractions, and the museum is predicting that it will be a major draw for tourists returning to the city.

Visitors in Minerals Hall at the American Museum of Natural History examine the Singing Stone, a 4.5 ton block of vibrant blue azurite and green malachite from Arizona that hums with changes in humidity. The climate control in the new hall prevents this from happening. Photo courtesy of the American Museum of Natural History.

There is something truly elemental and visceral about our connection to the minerals and materials of the earth on which we live, Futter said. Didnt we all collect rocks as children? And who among us doesnt appreciate a spectacular gem?

See more photos from the halls below.

American Museum Of Natural History Unveils Shining New Halls Of Gems And Minerals As Visitors Continue To Return

As New York City welcomes back its gems, including restaurants and Broadway shows, on its road to COVID-19 recovery, the American Museum of Natural History is also doing so in quite the literal sense.

On June 12, the iconic museums Alison and Roberto Mignone Halls of Gems and Minerals will make its re-debut to the public with a major redesign and more than 5,000 specimens including a 632-carat emerald to marvel at.

It is absolutely thrilling and its also such a positive thing, for New York and for the museum, AMNH president Ellen Futter told Travel + Leisure of the Halls reopening, noting that the timing couldnt be better.

They are unique for this moment, she said. They offer the perfect antidote for pandemic stress and uncertainty because theyre so grounding, theyre so elemental and so joyful. And who doesnt love something thats shiny and gorgeous?

Additionally, inside the Halls, visitors will find a temporary exhibit, Beautiful Creatures, which houses animal-inspired jewels with the most notable being created by Cartier and Tiffany.

The museum no longer has capacity limits, however, timed reservations are required until June 21 and visitors must wear facemasks. At the time of its September reopening, the attraction operated at 25% capacity.

You can feel the change, people are here, Futter said of the increasing amount of visitors.

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Some Famous Gems Get A New Setting

The Star of India, the Patricia Emerald and others return to public view in the newly redesigned halls at the American Museum of Natural History.

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To reach one of the most anticipated new destinations in New York City, you have to sidestep dinosaur fossils and hang a right at the cluster of meteorites. Its a long and winding road to a gemstone jackpot.

On the ground floor of the American Museum of Natural History, the finishing touches are being put on the Allison and Roberto Mignone Halls of Gems and Minerals, scheduled to open June 12. The $32 million redesign took place during a closure of more than three and a half years, extended by pandemic-related delays.

George Harlow, the departments curator, said the opening would be the culminating achievement of his more than 45 years at the museum. Id been politicking for this for years, Dr. Harlow said. The old space was very much like being in a mine.

And while he described himself as a great fan of that 1976 design, he said, We did our best to keep it up-to-date, but it had reached its limit.

The new, open plan for the 11,000-square-foot space was meant to inspire spontaneous wandering among the exhibits. Its much more random in the sense that you can walk all around, Dr. Harlow said.

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Reimagined Gem Halls At American Museum Of Natural History Set To Reopen This Spring

Fans of the American Museum of Natural History in New York City are anxiously awaiting the Spring 2021 reopening of the completely reimagined Allison and Roberto Mignone Halls of Gems and Minerals.

The 11,000-square-foot halls will feature some remarkable new attractions, including two amethyst geodes that are among the worlds largest on public display. Sourced in Uruguay, the geodes tower to a height of 12 feet and 9 feet, respectively.

Other high-profile specimens include the legendary 563-carat Star of India sapphire, 632-carat Patricia emerald, a 3,000-pound block of iridescent green and blue labradorite and the 9-pound almandine subway garnet that was discovered under Manhattans 35th Street in 1885.

Titled Beautiful Creatures, the renovated halls first temporary exhibition gallery celebrates historic and contemporary jewelry inspired by animals. The gallery will include pieces by Cartier, Bulgari and Tiffany & Co., as well as by contemporary designers, such as Bina Goenka.

When I first started as a curator at the Museum over 40 years ago, the most recent version of these galleries had just opened. Science has progressed significantly in that time, such as with the concept of mineral evolution, said George E. Harlow, curator of the new halls. These new exhibits will present our current scientific understanding of gems and minerals, present the environments in which they form, and focus on the intimate relationship between minerals and life.

The Redesigned Exhibit Will Open To Visitors On June 12

As New York City welcomes back its gems, including restaurants and Broadway shows, on its road to COVID-19 recovery, the American Museum of Natural History is also doing so – in quite the literal sense.

On June 12, the iconic museum’s Alison and Roberto Mignone Halls of Gems and Minerals will make its re-debut to the public with a major redesign and more than 5,000 specimens – including a 632-carat emerald – to marvel at.

“It is absolutely thrilling and it’s also such a positive thing, for New York and for the museum,” AMNH president Ellen Futter told Travel + Leisure of the Halls’ reopening, noting that the timing couldn’t be better.

“They are unique for this moment,” she said. “They offer the perfect antidote for pandemic stress and uncertainty because they’re so grounding, they’re so elemental and so joyful. And who doesn’t love something that’s shiny and gorgeous?”

Additionally, inside the Halls, visitors will find a temporary exhibit, “Beautiful Creatures,” which houses animal-inspired jewels with the most notable being created by Cartier and Tiffany.

The museum no longer has capacity limits, however, timed reservations are required until June 21 and visitors must wear facemasks. At the time of its September reopening, the attraction operated at 25% capacity.

“You can feel the change, people are here,” Futter said of the increasing amount of visitors.

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Museum Of Natural History Unveils New Hall Of Gems After Years Of Renovationand It Looks Incredible

After 3 years of renovations, the American Museum of Natural History has finally announced that it will open their completely redesigned hall of gems this upcoming falland the newly renovated facility is likely to be awe-inspiring.

The Allison and Roberto Mignone Hall of Gems and Minerals has been a part of the museum since the 1970s, although it has been closed for the last three years so curators could dramatically improve its accessibility and content.

The 11,000-square-foot halls have now been optimized to be a brilliant showcase for one of the greatest collections of its kind and an engaging guide to recent science about our dynamic planet.

The redesigned wing of the museum will feature recently acquired specimens, including two remarkable amethyst geodes that are among the worlds largest on public display a gallery of gems re-presenting treasures such as the legendary 563-carat Star of India sapphire and 632-carat Patricia emerald and the halls first temporary exhibition gallery, opening with Beautiful Creatures, a celebration of exquisite historic and contemporary jewelry inspired by animals.

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*A nearly 600-pound specimen of topaz from Minas Gerais, Brazil, one of the largest single crystals of topaz in any museum in the world

* Weighing almost half a ton and showcasing hundreds of swordlike crystals, one of the largest stibnite specimens on public display, from southeastern China

Topaz and amethyst gemstones at the Mignone Halls of Gems and Minerals inside the American Museum of … Natural History in New York

A new, temporary exhibition,Beautiful Creatures, displays exquisite jewelry inspired by animals and created over the last 150 years by jewelry houses and artisans such as Bulgari, Cartier, JAR and Tiffany. The jewelry is arranged in categories of animals observed in the air and water, and on land.

Organized by curator George E. Harlow of the museums division of physical sciences, the exhibits in the redesigned halls are arranged to show the geological conditions and processes by which minerals form: igneous, pegmatitic, metamorphic, hydrothermal and weathering. As part of this construct, the halls introduce a concept that has developed over the past 15 years: mineral evolution.

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Section Of Minerals Collection Featured In Museum Displays

Hillman Hall of Minerals and Gems showcases more than 1,300 minerals and gems from all over the world and has gained an international reputation as one of the finest and most important mineral exhibitions in the world. New acquisitions are added to the collection on an ongoing basis. This breathtaking exhibition hall is the culmination of the science, beauty, and history of minerals. See more of this amazing hall in the Hillman Hall of Minerals and Gems online exhibit.

Wertz Gallery: Gems & Jewelry is a 2,000-square-foot addition to Hillman Hall of Minerals and Gems dedicated to gems, the crystals from which they come, and jewelry comprised of these precious stones. Wertz Gallery is named in honor of Ronald W. Wertz, longtime president of the Hillman Foundation. Over 500 gems, crystals, pieces of jewelry and other gem art are on display in the permanent collection of Wertz Gallery including the stunning Birthstones exhibit. In addition, Wertz Gallery hosts special temporary and traveling exhibitions from around the world.

American Museum Of Natural History In New York Unveils Spectacular New Halls Of Gems And Minerals

After a four-year renovation, the 11,000-square-foot Allison and Roberto Mignone Halls of Gems and Minerals at the American Museum of Natural History in New York will reopen on June 12, among the first major new cultural facilities to welcome the public as the city reopens.

Telling the fascinating story of how minerals in their vast diversity formed on Earth and how humans have used them throughout the millennia for personal adornment, tools and technology, the halls feature over 5,000 specimens from over 98 countries.

An amethyst geode, center, at the entrance to the new Mignone Halls of Gems and Minerals inside the ⦠American Museum of Natural History in New York,

Highlights include:

*A gallery of dazzling gems, including the legendary 563-carat Star of India sapphire, gem crystals like the 632-carat Patricia Emerald, and the Organdie necklace designed by Michelle Ong for Carnet, with 110 carats of diamonds

*Fabulous new specimens, many never before exhibited, including a pair of towering, sparkling amethyst geodes that are among the worlds largest on display a slice of a 35-million-year-old metasequoia the nine-pound almandine Subway Garnet, discovered under Manhattans 35th Street in 1885 and the Tarugo, a three-foot-tall. cranberry-red elbaite tourmaline that is one of the most fantastic mineral crystal clusters ever found

*The Butterfly of Peace, 240 colored diamonds arranged in a symmetrical pattern of similar cuts and colors

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Hall Of Birds Of The World

The Hall of Birds of the World is on the south side of the second floor. The global diversity of bird species is exhibited in this hall. 12 dioramas showcase various ecosystems around the world and provide a sample of the varieties of birds that live there. Example dioramas include South Georgia featuring king penguins and skuas, the East African plains featuring secretarybirds and bustards, and the Australian outback featuring honeyeaters, cockatoos, and kookaburras.

New York State Memorial To Theodore Roosevelt

The main entrance hall on Central Park West is formally known as the New York State Memorial to Theodore Roosevelt. Completed by John Russell Pope in 1936, it is an over-scaled Beaux-Arts monument to former U.S. president Theodore Roosevelt. The hall was originally supposed to have formed one end of an “Intermuseum Promenade” through Central Park, connecting with the Metropolitan Museum of Art to the east, but the promenade was never completed.

The memorial hall has a pink-granite facade, which is modeled after Roman arches. In front of the hall on Central Park West is a terrace measuring 350 feet long, as well as a series of steps. The main entrance consists of an arch measuring 60 feet high. The underside of the arch is a coffered granite vestibule, which leads to a bronze, glass, and marble screen. On either side of the arch are niches that contain sculptures of a bison and a bear. It is flanked by two pairs of columns, which are topped by figures of American explorers John James Audubon, Daniel Boone, Meriwether Lewis, and William Clark. These figures were sculpted by James Earle Fraser and are about 30 feet high. In the attic above the main archway, there is an inscription describing Roosevelt’s accomplishments. The words “Truth”, “Knowledge”, and “Vision” are carved into the entablature under this inscription.

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The Refurbished Gem Halls Within The Iconic Upper West Side Museum Will Fully Reopen Four Years After First Closing Down For Renovation

UPPER WEST SIDE, NY After four years of closure, the American Museum of Natural History will reopen the revamped Allison and Roberto Mignone Halls of Gems and Minerals within the iconic Upper West Side museum.

The gem halls closed for renovations in 2017 and planned to reopen in the fall of 2020, but the pandemic delayed it. The reimagined gem and mineral collection will reopen to the public on June 12.

The American Museum of Natural History recently released a video preview of the new gem and mineral halls.

Visitors Are Encouraged To Bring Their Own Flashlight For The Full Optical Experience

The amethyst geode pictured here stands 9 feet-tall, weighs around 12,000 pounds , or about as much as four black rhinos, and was collected from the Bolsa Mine in Uruguay D. Finnin/©AMNH

The American Museum of Natural History in New York unveils a dramatic renovation of its beloved gems and minerals galleries next week. The hall was showing its wear and tear after opening more than four decades ago, according to the curator George Harlow, a trained geologist who specialises in mineralogy and crystallography. It has been closed to the public for nearly five years for the much-needed polish, which aims to better the visitor experience and show the museums unmatched collection of gems and minerals in their full splendour.

The hall is one of the most-visited areas of the museum, accounting for around 30% of its annual 5 million visitors, but for decades it felt like a mining situation, or like a jungle gym for children, Harlow says. This is a highly anticipated momentnot just for us who were involved in the project but also for New Yorkers who are smacking their lips to visit cultural institutions.

This slab of amphibolite rock sourced from Gore Mountain in upstate New York contains huge almandine garnet crystals that formed more than a billion years ago D. Finnin/©AMNH

This 3-foot-tall cranberry-red elbaite tourmaline known as the Tarugo is one of the most fantastic mineral crystal clusters ever found. It was discovered in 1978 in Minas Gerais, Brazil D. Finnin/©AMNH

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Natural History Museum Of Los Angeles County

• Closed: New Years Day, July 4th, Thanksgiving Day, and Christmas Day
• Parking: Pay parking lot
• Metro: The museum is halfway between the Metro Expo Line Expo Park/USC stop and the Expo/Vermont stop, which are both very close. Several bus lines also stop nearby.
• Time needed: Minimum 2 hours for a walkthrough, up to a full day if you read the text panels and interactive displays, play around in the Nature Lab and attend any shows or special activities.

NHM originally opened in Exposition Park in 1913 as the Los Angeles County Museum of History, Science and Art in the domed brick building that is now the east wing of the current museum. The museum was expanded to approximately double its size in 1920 and doubled again in 1927-30. An auditorium was added to the west end in 1958-60 and a north entrance and fountain were part of a major expansion in 1976. The glass Otis Pavilion, which is the current north entrance, a new Nature Garden and a separate ticket booth off the new parking garage were added in 2013 for the museums 100th birthday.

When the museum opened in 1913, they had a hard time coming up with art to exhibit in the art wing, but by the 1960s, the Countys art holdings were substantial enough to warrant a separate museum. The art component was moved to what is now the Los Angeles County Museum of Art on Wilshire Boulevard, and the name of the Exposition Park museum was changed to the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County .