My goodness!

There are rocks and there are rocks.

We don’t give some rocks a second glance, but others just naturally grab our attention.

The rare gemstone-like rocks at the World Mineral and Gemstone Museum are minerals. 

Some look like blooming roses while others look like dinosaurs with menacing horns. Where and how did these extraordinary rocks come to be?

The World Mineral and Gemstone Museum was a place where we couldn’t help but express surprise and wonder while admiring the mysteriousness of nature.

The World Mineral and Gemstone Museum currently collects and exhibits minerals that are rare and strange not only to Korea but also globally. 

The World Mineral and Gemstone Museum is located in the middle of the Heyri Art Valley in Paju. The valley is full of things to see including various museums, exhibition halls, and art galleries.

The former Ohyun Mineral Museum was reborn at Gate 4 in Heyri between the Museum of Modern History of Korea and Dalki Cafe to help it fulfill its role as an organized and exclusive museum for minerals. 

By definition, a mineral is a small grain that forms rock; most rocks consist of one or more minerals.

For example, granite is the name of a rock. Then, how many types of minerals is granite made of?

Granite is a rock made of three types of minerals: quartz, mica, and feldspar.

Materials like quartz, mica, and feldspar that form a rock are called minerals.

Just as each and every person has their own unique character and appearance, each mineral has its own traits and name. Different minerals can be identified depending on their intensity, luster, color, crystal form, and so on. 

At the World Mineral and Gemstone Museum, you will be able to see Antarctic rock specimens.

Although the Antarctic rock specimens were collected at King Sejong Station, Korea’s first Antarctic base, for scientific purposes and subsequently donated to the museum, most of the other specimens were collected by the World Mineral and Gemstone Museum’s Director himself during his travels around the world as an academic seeking major minerals from 52 different countries.

It would be an impossible task under today’s restrictions; however, the act of collecting specimens one after another as a geologist became the foundation of the World Mineral and Gemstone Museum.

Wherever some type of mineral was rumored to be found in some location, the director went there. This passion gave birth to the World Mineral and Gemstone Museum.

Now, the director says he relocated and reopened the museum with a focus on the educational purpose of promoting minerals correctly based on expert knowledge and steadfast conviction. 

What six types of minerals are indispensable for Korea’s industrial and economic activities?

Those six minerals are bituminous coal, uranium, zinc, iron, copper, and nickel.

Bituminous coal is used as fuel, uranium is used as a source of environment-friendly energy, and copper is a necessity for electronic devices. These minerals are essential for the growth of mankind.

Minerals are required for industrial development as well as our daily lives. In some cases, they become ornamental or decorative pieces.

Let’s examine the diverse world of minerals at the World Mineral and Gemstone Museum.

Petrified wood (silicified wood)

Did you know that petrified wood, which is a fossilized tree, is a type of mineral?

The reason it features a wide range of colors including red and blue is because oxidized steel was introduced to the fossil. A specimen comprised of pure silica is called an opal.

What about dinosaur egg fossils?

The word ‘fossil’ means ‘to become a rock’. Therefore becoming a rock can be interpreted as featuring minerals.Fossils are living organisms or traces of living organisms turned to solid rock inside layers of stratum.

What sort of minerals are included in dinosaur egg fossils?

Since a long ago, mankind has been using minerals.

We made weapons such as swords, arrowheads, and axes as well as household items during the Bronze Age. Feldspar was used in the glaze applied to ceramics after they were fired. In the modern age, they are used in necessities that we require in our everyday lives.

What types of minerals are used in mobile phones, a necessity in modern society (and a device we feel anxious without for even a second), and other electronic devices? They require as many as several dozen to as few as just over ten minerals. 

Jewels are typical products made using minerals.

The World Mineral and Gemstone Museum also tells tales regarding gemstones. 

Diamonds, gold, silver, crystals, jade…

The value of gemstones goes without saying.

We even look into our birthstones.

“Have you held a meteorite before?”

“Wow, is it okay to leave this valuable meteorite out in the open like this?”

The museum offers hands-on programs in which people can hold, touch, scratch, and scrape minerals for educational purposes.

The director gladly offers the meteorite for children to feel and touch rather than keeping it solely as an exhibited specimen.

The World Mineral and Gemstone Museum is a place that fosters an understanding of the value of minerals as a resource that we cannot do without in our daily lives.

We anticipate a bright future for the World Mineral and Gemstone Museum as a pioneer in mineral education. 

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