The Musée de minéralogie (Museum of

Mineralogy Mineralogy is a subject of geology specializing in the scientific study of the chemistry, crystal structure, and physical (including optical mineralogy, optical) properties of minerals and mineralized artifact (archaeology), artifacts. Specific s ...

) is a

museum A museum is an institution dedicated to displaying or Preservation (library and archive), preserving culturally or scientifically significant objects. Many museums have exhibitions of these objects on public display, and some have private colle ...

Strasbourg Strasbourg ( , ; ; ) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est Regions of France, region of Geography of France, eastern France, in the historic region of Alsace. It is the prefecture of the Bas-Rhin Departmen ...

in the

Bas-Rhin Bas-Rhin () is a department in Alsace which is a part of the Grand Est region of France. The name means 'Lower Rhine', referring to its lower altitude among the two French Rhine departments: it is downstream of the Haut-Rhin (Upper Rhine) de ...

department of

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

. It belongs to the

University of Strasbourg The University of Strasbourg (, Unistra) is a public research university located in Strasbourg, France, with over 52,000 students and 3,300 researchers. Founded in the 16th century by Johannes Sturm, it was a center of intellectual life during ...

, and displays historical collections of minerals. The museum was founded in 1890. The museum is located in the Paleontology and Mineralogy faculty building of the University of Strasbourg. Two rooms are dedicated to him in a building of the School and Observatory of Earth Sciences (EOST) also housing the Laboratory of Hydrology and Geochemistry.

Mineral collection

The origin of the mineral collection is the work of a professor of medicine from Strasbourg,

Johann Hermann Johann, or Jean-Frederic, Hermann, or Herrmann, (31 December 1738 in Barr, Alsace – 4 October 1800 in Strasbourg) was a French physician and naturalist Natural history is a domain of inquiry involving organisms, including animals, fungi ...

, who had set up a

cabinet of curiosities Cabinets of curiosities ( and ), also known as wonder-rooms ( ), were encyclopedic collections of objects whose categorical boundaries were, in Renaissance Europe, yet to be defined. Although more rudimentary collections had preceded them, t ...

in the 18th century. The museum is home to over 30,000 mineral samples. Gems and stones from France,

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

, the former

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

(most notably

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

and USA are exhibited. The collections include a cast of the largest single piece of gold ever found (a 68 kg lump of gold, found in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

). Also of special interest is the "box with fluorescent stones", with minerals illuminated by ultra-violet rays.

Collection of meteorites

The museum keeps a remarkable collection of 450 samples of meteorites. It is the second largest collection in France after that of the National Museum of Natural History in Paris. Most of the meteorites were acquired around 1900 by the Imperial University. The main founders of this original collection were professors of international reputation: Paul Groth, mineralogist, and Émile Cohen, petrographer. After their departure, it was actively pursued by Wilhelm Brühns and Hugo Bücking (de), mineralogists. We owe especially to Émile Cohen the constitution of a collection of plaster models after originals of which there are still 44 samples. It is the only collection of this type in France. Although it has hardly changed since 1918, the collection is represented by the different varieties of meteorites identified to date, including a fragment of the oldest, which fell in Europe around 1400. It has been classified according to the classification of Wasson.

Collection of scientific instruments

X-ray generators, one of the oldest electron diffractors built in France after 1950, cathode ray tubes from Crookes, Coolidge, Hadding, X-ray emission devices created in the former mineralogy laboratory, old crystallographic instruments (polarizing and converging light microscopes, Wollaston and Groth goniometers, theodolite, reflection) constitute a remarkable batch of scientific apparatus from the 19th and 20th centuries.

Educational collections

Crystallographic models in glass and cardboard, wood and colored wire, as well as pastels formerly intended for teaching occupy several showcases. They constitute a valuable collection of European quality.

References

External links

* Mineralogie Mineralogie Geology museums in France University museums in France Natural history museums in France {{France-museum-stub