Harry Oppenheimer Diamond Museum, Diamond museum in Ramat Gan, Israel.
The Harry Oppenheimer Diamond Museum occupied a space within the Israel Diamond Exchange complex in Ramat Gan. Its permanent display followed a diamond from formation deep in the earth through mining, sorting, polishing and trading, using genuine tools, information stations and video films in Hebrew, English, Russian and Chinese. A separate permanent exhibit showed more than 200 minerals and gemstones from around the world, the Ben-Zion and Sarah Harel collection, opened in 2004.
Moshe Schnitzer conceived the museum in the late 1970s so the public could see a trade normally closed off by security, and it opened in July 1986 during the first World Federation of Diamond Bourses congress held in Israel. He named it after Harry Oppenheimer, then chairman of De Beers, out of esteem rather than funding needs; Oppenheimer attended the opening, as did Defense Minister Yitzhak Rabin. After a 2007 redesign it closed in early 2018.
The museum's name honours Harry Oppenheimer, chairman of the De Beers diamond syndicate, a choice Moshe Schnitzer made out of esteem rather than funding needs; Oppenheimer attended the opening. Its displays traced the diamond from formation deep underground through mining, sorting and polishing to trade, with video in Hebrew, English, Russian and Chinese.
The museum occupied part of the Israel Diamond Exchange complex in Ramat Gan, a short ride from Tel Aviv by public transport. It shut its doors in early 2018 after about 31 years, so the site can no longer be visited as a museum.
A 2009 exhibition, "AND THOU SHALT BREATHE LIFE INTO A GEM", showed 140 works by gemstone carvers from Idar-Oberstein, Germany, including stones cut as animals, flowers and vessels. The museum also hosted "The Golden Treasury of Prague" in 1994, with 180 diamond jewels from Prague's Museum of Applied Arts and 18 pieces of Jewish ceremonial silver from the Jewish Museum in Prague.
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