German Gemstone Museum
The German Gemstone Museum is located in Idar-Oberstein in the Idar district, opposite the German Gemstone Exchange . In the museum, all types of gemstones and gemstones in the world are exhibited in over 10,000 exhibits. A special focus of the museum is the presentation of local minerals (especially agates ) and their processing. But also engravings and sculptures from all over the world are shown.
The history of the German Gemstone Museum goes back to the middle of the 19th century. At that time, the Oldenburg government (the upper Nahe area had belonged to the Principality of Birkenfeld zu Oldenburg since 1817 by resolution of the Congress of Vienna ), among other things, a law on the establishment of a trade council. One of the first official acts of this trade council was the establishment of a commercial and industrial hall on Alexanderplatz in Idar in December 1859, initially as a sales exhibition for industrial products. This was the first forerunner of the gem museum.
The so-called "New Commercial Hall" was moved into in 1897. There the products of the gemstone industry were shown, this time as a kind of "performance show" without sales. After more than 75 years, the commercial hall was closed and relocated to the newly built "Diamond and Gemstone Exchange", expanded and reopened on November 17, 1973 as the "German Gemstone Museum".
In 1996 the German Armed Forces released the villa “Purpers Schlößchen” for conversion. The Federal Association of the Gemstone and Diamond Industry, under whose administration the German Gemstone Museum had previously been, organized the transition to the new legal form together with committed friends of the museum. The newly established “German Gemstone Museum Foundation” made it possible to purchase and expand the villa, which has since given the world-famous collection an appropriate setting.
Since it was founded in 1973, more than four million visitors have visited the German Gemstone Museum.
Some exhibits:
antique cameo
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Web links
Coordinates: 49 ° 43 ′ 8 ″ N , 7 ° 18 ′ 16 ″ E