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Allison and Roberto Mignone Halls of Gems and Minerals

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  • Comment: This should be merged with the more commonly known name and described as a section there. It should also be updated at the main museum article. AngusW🐶🐶F (bark • sniff) 14:38, 8 July 2021 (UTC)

The Allison and Roberto Mignone Halls of Gems and Minerals are a series of exhibition halls at the American Museum of Natural History on the Upper West Side in Manhattan, New York City. The halls opened on June 12th, 2021 as a complete redesign of their predecessors, the Harry Frank Guggenheim Hall of Gems and Minerals and Morgan Memorial Hall of Gems.[1]. The halls feature thousands of rare gems, mineral specimens and pieces of jewelry.[2]

History

The Mignone Halls replaced two permanent exhibits, the Guggenheim and Morgan Memorial halls, completed in 1976, which previously displayed specimens from the museum's mineral and gem collections. At the time of its completion, the exhibit was praised as "one of the finest museum installations that New York or any city has seen in some years" by New York Times critic Paul Goldberger, who also complimented the space for its dynamic use of curves, ramps, steps, and level changes, and soft atmosphere.[3]

By 2017, the same features that had made the exhibit cutting-edge were seen as outdated. The vice president for exhibitions at the museum compared the old layout to a labyrinth, and called it mysterious.[4] On October 26th, 2017 the exhibit closed to undergo a $32 million redesign by Ralph Appelbaum Associates.[2][5] The redesigned halls were scheduled to be completed in 2020 to correspond with the museum's 150th anniversary, but their reopening was delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic.[6] On June 12th, 2021 the renovated halls reopened to the general public.[4]

Exhibits

The new exhibits explore a range of topics, including the diversification of mineral species over the course of Earth's history, plate tectonics, and the stories of specific gems.[4] They have adopted newer philosophies in exhibit design, including a focus on storytelling, interactivity, and connecting ideas across disciplines.[4]

Notable Specimens

The Star of India - a 563-carat star sapphire, the largest of its kind in the world.

The DeLong Star Ruby - a 100-carat stone discovered in Burma in the 1930s.

The Patricia Emerald - a 12-sided 632-carat emerald found in Colombia in 1920, unique because it was never cut into a gem shape.[2]

The Brazilian Princess Topaz - a light blue gemstone weighing 9.5 pounds, considered to be the largest cut gemstone in the world.[7]

The Subway Garnet - a nine-pound almandine garnet measuring almost six inches in diameter, discovered during a sewer excavation in New York City in 1885.[8]

References

  1. ^ Zimmerman, Eileen (2021-02-19). "A New York Museum Staple Gets a New Glimmer". The New York Times. Retrieved 2021-07-07.
  2. ^ a b c Dukes, Tanya (2021-05-23). "Some Famous Gems Get a New Setting". The New York Times. Retrieved 2021-07-07.
  3. ^ Goldberger, Paul (1977-04-14). "Design Notebook". The New York Times. Retrieved 2021-07-07.
  4. ^ a b c d Zimmerman, Eileen (2021-05-19). "A New York Museum Staple Gets a New Glimmer". The New York Times. Retrieved 2021-07-07.
  5. ^ Roberts, Sam (2017-10-17). "New Home for Gems and Minerals at the Museum of Natural History". The New York Times. Retrieved 2021-07-07.
  6. ^ "Opening of the Mignone Halls of Gems and Minerals Postponed" (Press release). American Museum of Natural History. Retrieved 2020-07-07.
  7. ^ "Brazilian Princess Topaz". Smithsonian Institution. Retrieved 2021-07-07.
  8. ^ Shulz, Bill (2015-09-24). "The Subway Garnet". The New York Times. Retrieved 2020-07-07.
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