The largest and most spectacular diamond exhibition the world has ever seen has opened at London's Natural History Museum and for the period 28 October 2005 - 24 February 2006 the exhibition will have a late night opening on Fridays until 21.00.
You can relax with friends over a drink and enjoy live music in the museum's Central Hall or avoid the queues and visit
Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2005 exhibition, which is also open late on winter Fridays.
Photograph courtesy Natural History Museum.
Not all diamonds are white and this exhibition focuses on the variety of natural colours. Naturally coloured diamonds are xtremely rare and for every 10,000 white diamonds only one coloured diamond is mined.
The exhibition includes the
Steinmetz Pink. The world's largest fancy vivid pink, flawless diamond. It took Steinmetz two years of planning before cutting this magnificent 59.60-carat oval-shaped diamond, which was first displayed to the world around the neck of model Helena Christensen in Monaco, May 2003.
It also includes the
Ocean Dream which is the largest naturally occurring fancy deep blue-green diamond ever found. Its incredible colour, caused by exposure to natural radiation over millions of years deep in the earth of central Africa, makes this one of the world's rarest diamonds.
And there is also, the
Incomparable. Cut from an 890-carat rough diamond, at a staggering 407.48 carats this yellow stone is the third-largest cut diamond in existence.
"The sheer size and diversity of the collection of diamonds we are assembling will make this an awe-inspiring exhibition," said Dr Michael Dixon, Director of the Natural History Museum. "This exhibition will bring together many of the most impressive single stones in the world alongside fascinating science and insights into the diamond industry to tell the story of diamonds from deep in the Earth to the red carpet."
In all, there are nine of the world's rarerest diamonds, the biggest and the best, at the centre of this extraordinary exhibition; but visitors will also be dazzled by the
Aurora Collection of 296 naturally coloured diamonds forming an enchanting spectrum from emerald green to blood red, Mogul treasures, crown jewels and the
Star of South Africa to just mention a few of the spectacular diamonds on display.
Oh yes, I should mention that world's largest colourless, internally and externally flawless diamond, the
De Beers Millennium Star is being wheeled out for public view.
Tickets can be purchased when you visit but the organizers recommend advance booking to guarantee your entry. You can book tickets online, by phone or in person at the museum.
The usual booking fee is payable on tickets booked remotely.
Don't forget the shades.You can
buy coloured diamonds from
UK jeweller Midas-Store.
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