There’s a lot more bling at the American Museum of Natural History.
Officials unveiled a shimmering, 12-foot-tall amethyst geode on Monday as part of plans to remodel the galleries that showcase the museum’s popular gem and mineral collection.
“It will be a complete transformation,” said Ralph Appelbaum, whose design and architecture firm was tapped to oversee the $30 million project. “The current space is dark, and we are going to lighten it up. It will be a bright and fresh gallery.”
Opened in 1976, the current halls feature low lights, plush carpets and a series of platforms for exhibits. The original 25-foot ceilings will be restored and all galleries will be on one level.
The museum plans to use the opportunity to put more of its collection of 105,000 minerals and 5,000 gems on display. Crowd favorites, such as the 563-carat Star of India, a blue star sapphire, will remain.
The project is expected to take about two years and includes a Crystal Garden main exhibit area, gem gallery, a case dedicated to the minerals of New York City and a fluorescence and phosphorescence gallery to highlight a rock panel that glows orange and green under ultraviolet light.
Appelbaum said gems do not have to be displayed in low-lit spaces to be appreciated.
“With new kinds of lighting, where you can adjust the color of an LED tiny little pin spot, you can make a gem glow with even more color,” he said.
George Harlow, curator in the museum’s Division of Physical Sciences, said the new design will help tell the important story about how minerals form.
“People love gems but they don’t necessarily understand very much about them,” he said.
Appelbaum’s firm has worked on museum exhibits around the globe, including the Crown Jewels at the Tower of London and the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum.
The new amethyst geode, which hails from Uruguay, is nicknamed “Stan” by museum staffers for its tall, lean shape. Its rotund counterpart is called “Ollie,” an homage to the classic comedy team of Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy.
Renderings of the new space show the impressive duo at the entrance.
“They face different ways and they welcome from a really important point – from the hall of meteorites, the story of our cosmic inheritance,” Appelbaum said. “I think that will be the most memorable part of this hall.”
The new gem and mineral halls are set to be named for Roberto and Allison Mignone, long-time supporters of the museum.
Harlow, a mineralogist and geologist, said the new exhibits will show how minerals are “linked with their natural environment and biology on the one hand and with culture and technology on the other.”
“If people leave here saying ‘That’s beautiful and I learned something,’ then I will feel like I have been successful,” Harlow said.
