As of the start of Spring, the Netherlands’s largest city is home to the newly inaugurated Diamantmuseum. The Amsterdam Diamond Museum is one of the few museums in the world which is dedicated to expounding the lives of nature’s most wonder-filled and unconquerable creation; the origins of the word diamond derives from the Greek ‘adamas’ meaning adamant and incorruptible.

The private institution was created by the Ben Meier Foundation and the Coster Diamonds Polishing Factory. Coster Diamonds has been a leading diamond factory in Europe since the 1840’s. Located in the Museumplein (the Museum Quarter), Diamantmuseum is positioned equi-distance between the three most popular tourist attractions in the Netherlands: the Rijksmuseum, the Van Gogh Museum and the Stedelijk Museum.

Inaugurated in April 2007, the Diamond Museum stages “a journey that began 3 billion years ago, 200 kilometers under the surface of the earth and which ends in the ring on your finger or in the pendant around your neck”!

With a most enticing promise to “penetrate as far as the carbon atom”, the visitor is invited to embark on a glamorous and enthralling journey through diamond mines and Machiavellian intrigues of the market. We also are introduced to an entertaining cast of historical characters through the ages from Louis XIV to David Beckham.

The museum’s modestly designed permanent exhibitions attempt to combine an accessible educational program with tantalizing replicas of famous jewels, crowns, tiaras as well as reproduction of historic paintings, photographs and videos representing international royalty, pop and movie stars.

The permanent exhibitions are divided into ten simple but well illustrated categories. In the orientation room, the visitor is faced with a ten-minute survey film and a diagram illustrating the stages through which mines are explored to reach diamond deposits. An introductory panel to the life of diamond as a mineral is followed by photographic and textual demonstrations of polishing techniques. A historic look at goldsmiths’ trade is highlighted with antique objects relating to this mysterious and esoteric craft. The 4 C’s demonstrate the concepts of carat, clarity, colour, and cut of a piece which collectively define the quality of a diamond. The exhibition on the House of Oranje-Nassau focuses on the Dutch Royal family’s riches; a larger than life photo portrait of the spirited Queen Beatrix enlightens an otherwise obligatory aspect to this part of the exhibitions.

Replicas of twenty-two famous diamonds seductively interrupt a fairly technical history which is continued by routes and methods of distribution. This section focuses on the most successful diamond trade business in the world: De Beers Diamond Trading Company which distributes nearly 60% of the world’s production.

Amsterdam, city of diamonds chronicles the city’s four hundred year-long love affair with this spectacularly dramatic precious material. Saving a double serving of Hitchcockian intrigue for last, we learn about famous forgeries and notorious robberies just toward the end of the exhibition.

The ultimate diamond experience, however, is staged in the glamour room which is quite the psychedelic space. The walls and ceiling of a dimly-lit 9x9 ft (approx) room, is covered with medium size cut mirrors, dramatically dotted lights and cushiony black carpet. A cross between a rich and private kinky grotto and a Persian mirror-worked palace renders this gallery a sensually dizzying space. The glamour room simulates the sensation of being inside (!) a diamond. There are small video monitors randomly installed on the walls on which several scenes from famous films whose plots focus around obsessions with diamond. Marilyn (Monroe) sings Diamonds are a Girl’s Best Friends whilst Grace (Kelly) seduces Cary Grant with her exquisitely feminine looks, voice, presence…and, yes, “the pendant around her neck.” Of course what is a theatrical-cinematic mention of diamonds without re-viewing “Bond, James Bond” and his Diamonds are Forever (1971) with the full, quiveringly operatic voice of Shirley Bassey singing the film’s anthem in the background?!

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Other museums and exhibitions on Diamonds include:

MERELY A HAT photoessay on the representation of modern Iranian history in the Diamantmuseum!

Diamantmuseum, Amsterdam

Israel Museum

Dimanatmuseum, Bruges, Belgium

American Museum of Natural History: an old exhibition on Diamonds with a great online educational website.