The hardest natural substance on Earth, with numerous uses in industry, diamond is perhaps most renowned as a glittering, adamantine gem. The Nature of Diamonds explores the human fascination with this mineral and the allusions and symbolism that give it such a magical aura.

The exhibition, which is organized by George E. Harlow, curator in the Museum's Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, examines the unique properties of diamond; where it is found and what it tells us about Earth; early Indian and Roman writings on diamond; the role diamond has assumed in writing, art, and adornment; the transformation of diamond into the emblem of style and romance in modern culture; the history of discovery and exploitation of diamond sources; the processing and fashioning of diamonds from raw crystals to finished gem or abrasive; the diamond economy; the grading of diamond gems; and industrial and technological applications, including the history of diamond synthesis.

Exhibition Highlights
Some of the exhibits in The Nature of Diamonds enable visitors to examine and test the unusual physical properties of diamond. Fine samples of real diamond crystals show the mineral's diversity in nature, while highlighting some of the shimmering beauty that led to the mineral's discovery and lore. An interactive hands-on model of the diamond crystal structure offers visitors an opportunity to test the extraordinary strength of this hardest of substances. Visitors can also feel the icy surface caused by diamond's immense capacity to conduct heat, measure the light refractivity that gives diamond its brilliance, and observe the superb ability of diamond to divide light into rainbow colors.

A tunnel in an underground diamond mine that intersects a "diamond pipe" is being specially constructed for the exhibition. Visitors can walk through the tunnel to see how the explosive eruptions of ancient volcanoes created the pipes and provided the world with diamonds. Embedded in this volcanic rock, which is known as kimberlite, are diamonds and chunks of Earth coming from depths as great as 200 kilometers and dating from as far back as three billion years. Samples of rare rocks from Earth's mantle are embedded in the re-created kimberlite pipe, while partially buried diamonds are also visible. From the mine tunnel visitors can watch a large-screen computer animation that illustrates how these pipes are formed and how diamonds are brought to Earth's surface.

Many historically and scientifically significant gems from collections around the world are on loan for this exhibition. A specially designed walk-in diamond vault houses some of the most dazzling objects in the exhibition, many of which have never before been on view in North America. Among these are:
 

• A stunning array of jewels from the Kremlin, including the diamond-studded Diamond Crown of Peter the Great (r. 1682-1725), made of fur, gold, silver, emeralds, rubies, and other gems, and a twenty-one-inch-high silver and gold Gospel cover, inlaid with more than 2,000 diamonds and other gems, owned by Catherine the Great (r. 1762-90).
   
• Objects from the fabled Grünes Gewölbe in Dresden, including a five-inch-long diamond hat-ornament of Friedrich August III, Elector, then King of Saxony and Duke of Warsaw (1750-1827).
   
• An assortment of superb eighteenth-century regal diamond jewelry, on loan from the National Palace of Ajuda Museum, Lisbon, including a spectacular necklace (c. 1865) belonging to Maria Amelia, Queen Consort of Carlos I of Portugal (r. 1899-1908).
   
• The spectacular 128.54-carat Tiffany Diamond and the 24-carat Arkansas Diamond, on loan from Tiffany & Co.

Other diamond adornments are on display alongside paintings in the historical gallery, which places the aristocratic jewelry in its human and historic context through a selection of paintings representing four centuries of portraiture. Highlights among the paintings include Peake the Elder's Princess Elizabeth, later Queen of Bohemia (c. 1610), on loan from The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, and Alexander Roslin's portrait (painted between 1775 and 1790) of Catherine the Great, from the Hillwood Museum, Washington, D. C. This is on view alongside jewelry from Catherine's royal collection, on loan from a private collection, and Peter Carl Fabergé's replica of the Russian Regalia, on loan from the Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg.

Also on display in the historical gallery are many rare and unusual jewels on loan from a wide array of public and private collections, including the superb Diamond Monogram (c. 1610) of Ann of Denmark, from the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, England; a selection of jewels from the National Museum, Szczecin, Poland; fine seventeenth- and eighteenth-century French, Spanish, and Low Countries pieces on loan from The Metropolitan Museum of Art; and a display of five centuries of diamonds in betrothal rings, providing a link to our modern celebration of marriage.

At various times during the run of the exhibition, in a diamond lapidary workshop specially re-created for The Nature of Diamonds, cutters from the diamond trade demonstrate and explain the techniques of faceting diamonds. Also on view in the lapidary workshop is a video on the complete process of diamond fashioning, including new computer-automated methods.

Other exhibition highlights include models of alluvial and marine mining in South Africa and a video on adventurous contemporary diamond exploration in the Northwest Territories of Canada. From the National Palace of Ajuda Museum come two spectacular natural Brazilian white diamonds, weighing 35 and 135 carats. The 240 naturally colored diamonds on long-term loan to the Museum from Aurora Gems, New York, are also on display, showing the wide variety of color in diamonds. A resource center at the exit to the exhibition offers visitors a range of information about diamond in different formats, including a specially created Web site.

Publication and Educational Programming
The exhibition is accompanied by The Nature of Diamonds, a richly illustrated, comprehensive book on the science, history, art, symbolism, and technology of diamonds, to be co-published by the American Museum of Natural History and Cambridge University Press. The publication, edited by Dr. Harlow, is more than 200 pages long and has more than 200 photographs, maps, and charts. It includes a preface by Ellen V. Futter, president of the American Museum of Natural History, followed by an introduction and four chapters written by Dr. Harlow, and nine chapters by leading geologists, gemologists, physicists, and cultural observers.

In conjunction with the exhibition, the Museum's Department of Education is planning an array of special programs for families, school groups, teachers, and adults, including lectures, films, and workshops.