The American Museum of Natural History’s new Gilder Center is an imaginative oasis, exploring almost 4 million scientific specimens, and about 12 percent of the Museum’s collection.
Spanning 230,000-square-foot space, the new building on the museum’s campus features incredible spaces like the Gottesman Research Library and Learning Center, the Kenneth C. Griffin Exploration Atrium, the Davis Family Butterfly Vivarium, and now, the Yurman Family Crystalline Pass.
The new exhibit connects the Allison and Roberto Mignone Halls of Gems and Minerals to the Richard Gilder Center for Science, Education and Innovation with an impressive 19-foot-long quartz vein, holding 4,000 pounds of crystals.
The crystalline pass is actually a re-creation of a 70-foot-long mineral vein found in the Ouachita Mountains of Arkansas, a region known for producing some of the world’s finest clear quartz crystal.
Colorless and transparent, these rock crystals grew in the local sandstone that’s covered in iron-oxide rich clay. It’s revered for its durability and exquisiteness. In fact, David Yurman has been using this type of rock crystal quartz in his jewelry for years.
During the crystal’s excavation in Arkansas, the Yurmans had actually visited the mine to observe the intense process which requires the removal of topsoil layers and extracting the crystals by hand. According to the David Yurman website, “The Yurmans are delighted to support the creation of this exhibit at the American Museum of Natural History, and to share their love of art, nature, and gemstones with the world.”
Museum goers can see this jaw-dropping recreation of the original mineral vein, designed to look exactly as it had upon the first exposure of the crystals, now on view.
Find out more on the American Museum of Natural History’s website.