The Richard Gilder Center for Science

Inside the Mignone Hall tells the story of how the vast diversity of mineral species arose on Earth, how scientists classify and study them, and how people have used them for adornment, tools, and technology, drawing on more than 5,000 specimens from 98 countries. The layout is organized into three main sections: a Minerals Hall, a Gems Hall, and the Melissa and Keith Meister Gallery for temporary exhibitions, with an additional area devoted to how minerals interact with light. Signature specimens include the Butterfly of Peace, a suite of colored diamonds, along with giant geodes and the Star of India sapphire, plus a nine-pound "subway garnet" unearthed during an 1885 sewer dig, and a massive azurite-and-malachite specimen nicknamed the Singing Stone, first shown at the 1893 Chicago World's Fair.