BE ADVISED: The Natural History Museum is not participating in SoCal Museums Free-for-All on Sunday, February 22.

group visits gem and mineral hall tour

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Gems & Minerals

Exhibitions

Mexican crazy lace agate

Gem and Mineral Hall

The Robert Procop Gem and Mineral Hall presents more than 2,000 minerals, rocks, meteorites, and gems from across the globe.

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Stories

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himalaya tourmaline

Bygone Building Blocks

See how people have been utilizing minerals in all sorts of ways, from antiquity to today.

Aaron Celestian holding a reddish-brown stone with stripes of greenish iridescent stripes next to a closeup of the stone

On View: A Rare Australian Opal in NHM’s Gem and Mineral Hall

Meet a new dazzling black opal and discover the science behind the sparkle with Dr. Aaron Celestian

Jonker header on black bg

The Jonker Diamond: A Giant Gem of Many Facets

Explore the human and natural history of the Jonker I Diamond

L. atlantica 2 SEM image

Small Wonders

NHM’s new Scanning Electron Microscope Lab connects guests with big science and tiny specimens.

An opaque white and transparent mineral with many spiky outgrowths.

The Secret Power of Zeolite

Our Curator of Mineral Sciences, Aaron Celestian, talks about why this mineral blows his mind!

Cave of swords

Gypsum Crystals: Mineral Ships for Alien Life?

Can gypsum crystals hold alien life from Mars? Explore every facet of these incredible crystals with our Mineral Sciences Curator Aaron Celestian.

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Throughout the halls of the Natural History Museum there are hidden marvels that are actually right before your eyes.

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