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World Crystal Museum |
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Please contact us for information on how to donate tax deductible funds.
We also accept mineral/gem donations and other kinds of property.
The World Crystal Museum is a certified IRS section 501 (c3) organization founded in 2005.
"Crystal Bill" Kaunitz |
The book Crystal Treasure Trove by |
What would it take to create the world's most interesting mineral museum? First, we would need spectacular architecture that would present a colossal sculptural view. In the theme of the museum, the building would represent a series of giant crystal shapes. Crystalline architecture can also be seen in the Denver Museum of Contemporary Art (opened in 2006) and the unusual crystalline shape of a mineral museum in France . Our museum building would differ in several respects. While the other museums present fantasy crystal shapes, our World Crystal Museum would be based on the ancient architecture of naturally occurring quartz crystals, which already look like stately castles! These multi-million year old shapes would be blended at ground level with entrances shaped like the Platonic Solids- mathematical constructs underlying all of geometry, architecture and crystallography. Specifically, we would walk through tetrahedral, cubic, octahedral, dodecahedral and icosahedral foyers and halls. The exteriors of the building's crystalline shapes would be faced with solar panels to help power the building's heat and lighting systems. The vertical sides of the building would be faceted with titanium panels (like the Denver Museum ), but ours would be electro-painted with permanent shimmering rainbow designs that will change color depending on your viewing angle. Each outside wall would be, in effect, a crystalline painting! From a distance, the Museum would look like a series of shimmering columns of light topped by sparkling crystals. This vision of multiple towering rainbows is enhanced by moving spotlights on the exterior. |
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Most current geology museums focus on showing as many different kinds of minerals, gems, and crystals as feasible, but typically only one example of each species. Our museum would be set up to show how each of the 1500 different types of rocks on earth, can be found in many types, or “habits.” As an example, gold crystals can be found in over a dozen different geometries, while quartz can exhibits 100's of kinds of shapes. Our diorama displays would present the ‘evolution” of each mineral: From boulders (called Massive rocks, regardless of size) To crystalline forms (single crystals or groupings, called clusters) To stalactites (elongated shapes coated with crystals) To faceted gems and jewelry To carvings and sculptures formed from the crystalline rocks. Additionally, “mineral artwork” of paintings, collages and multimedia sculptures would be highlighted by high tech media displays. These films, videos and lightshows will integrate the varying forms of the minerals with information spanning the entirety of human culture. |
| Our viewers will see and realize how integral the rocks of the world are. Minerals form the patterns of our buildings, languages, mathematics, art materials and electronic components. The World Crystal Museum will rely heavily on interactive video technologies to allow the museum-goers to magnify the beauty of tiny crystals, and to take home personalized DVDs of their experiences. Our guests will control the lighting, sound effects, and motion of the animated dioramas. It will be like immersion in a giant video set. This will appeal at a deep level to children, and adults as well, since they will create the content of their experiences. |  |
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Part of the museum will consist of a series of caverns, like giant geodes, created from different types of crystals. You will be able to walk through “crystal rooms” where the floors (under Plexiglas), walls and ceilings are coated with crystals- amethyst, white quartz, pyrite, fluorite, citrine, malachite, rose quartz, selenite, calcite, etc… This series of caverns will cover the entire rainbow spectrum. Indeed, you will travel through the rainbow on your journey! All the other display rooms will double as ongoing theater presentations, partly controlled by the audience, where everything dances! The minerals are on motor mounts, the lights are on rotators, and the sounds follow you around as you dance through the display. This will truly be a museum of dancing crystals and rainbows. People will be encouraged to free up the limits of their minds and their bodies through beauty and movement. The overall effects will be entrancing. |
| Other educational areas will present actual artisans, creating new displays right before your eyes. Crystal and gem cutters will craft beautiful jewelry in their visible laboratories. Painters and sculptors will incorporate crystal themes into artwork for display and for sale in our extensive gift shops. The gift shops will present an opportunity for people to get hands on experience of up-close relationships with many minerals. Inventory control is managed through radio-frequency identification tags that control shoplifting, while allowing access to pre-recorded information about the stones on kiosk type screens. By the way, the museum will issue gem-like credit cards that track viewers' time and interests, as well as creating take home videos personalized to each guest's experience. |  |
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This Museum will be alive with motion, rainbows and crystalline sounds. We will offer displays of many crystalline instruments, which guests can play, and record for home enjoyment. Try the giant harmonium, or a crystal didgeridoo. Crystal bowls, flutes, pipes and chimes will help to create a symphony of lasting harmony. Some of the floors will have sensors that translate the guests' movements into celestial harmonies broadcast through the room. It is all set up to dance! |
| This will be the most interactive museum in the world. The San Francisco Exporatorium is the conceptual model for our work. Every exhibit invites participation in creating expanding levels of interest and beauty. We will call forth the artist within- working with light, rainbows, motion, music and dance. Our guests get to direct and produce their crystal experience, and then take it home as music CDs or visual DVDs. |  |
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And that is the best form of advertising. As the museum-goers show off their media treasures and mineral gifts purchases to their family and friends, they become worldwide ambassadors for the World Crystal Museum. Our other resources will include online access to massive photo, music and video displays. In time, we hope to have dozens of satellite “mini-museums” (and mineral gift shops) in strategic locations worldwide. Expansion plans include the world's first crystal theme park, utilizing, mind-expansion learning technology for stimulating creativity on a global basis. |