Amsterdam museum tells story of diamonds
AMSTERDAM, October 9, 2013 – The Diamond Museum Amsterdam takes you on a journey that began 3 billion years ago, 200 kilometres under the surface of the earth, and which ends in the ring on your finger.
Tourists window shop for diamond jewellery in Amsterdam
A visit to the museum, located on Paulus Potterstraat 8 near the Rijksmuseum, is an education spanning the early discoveries in India, commercial mining in Africa starting in the 19th Century, and exhibits about crowns and diamond jewellery worn by royalty and movie stars.
The museum also tells the story of Amsterdam as a diamond centre.
In the second half of the 17th Century, Amsterdam became the diamond capital of the world.
From that time, the city long remained an important centre for polishing and trading.
The First World War, the Depression of the 1930s, and the deportation of the Jewish population in the Second World War, were, however, fatal to the diamond industry in Amsterdam.
Since around 1965, Amsterdam has mostly been a centre of diamond trading, focusing on selling to consumers.
Now, Amsterdam’s diamond factories receive around one million visitors a year.
One of the highlights for visitors to the museum is the Coster Skull, made by Coster Diamonds.
Coster Skull
The skull is made from silver, cast from a gorilla skull, and is set with a total of over 17,000 brilliant cut diamonds.
