Plura eius genera
The Patrimony of M.A.G.M.A.X
During the visit of the permanent collection you will admire the various aspects of the mineral world declined in its many objects. Consult the various sections to find out what you will see and then guide you in choosing possible insights.
Memories from the underground and from the cosmos
Minerals and rocks
- Minerals of all colors…and all shapes
- Single and “coupled” crystals…in aggregates and twins
- Famous diamonds in bohemian glass
- The minerals collected in the six S.K.E.T.C.H. classification systems
- Rocks and minerals from the depths of the earth and sidereal space
- The periodic table of minerals
- The earth’s crust in four drawers
- Minerals in History
- Industrial minerals and ingots
- The diamonds of the Jews fleeing the Nazis
- The only healthy use of “tobacco”: mineral collections in cigar and cigarette boxes
- The smallest mineralogical collection in the world
Minerals and man
Mining art
- Tools, clothing, personal items and furnishings from miners around the world
- The original Davy-Faraday lamp and other lamps…much more mysterious!
- Dioramas of famous mines
- Toys inspired by mining art
- Arts and crafts using minerals
- The smallest mines in the world
- The authentic and complete uniform of a “Corner” miner
- Glass and Porcelain: indirect gifts from the Mineral Kingdom
- Copper and Gold: direct gifts from the Mineral Kingdom
- The phone 650 meters deep in the coal mine
- The helmet of the Ruhr child miner
- The miners’ nativity scene in a…mine
The mineralogical investigation
Tools and Crystallography
- From the torch to the spectroscope: unveiling the chemical ingredients of minerals
- From contact goniometer to theodolite goniometer: studying the shape of crystals
- From the microscope to the X-ray diffractometer: discover the structure of minerals
- The pocket field microscope and the mountain chemical laboratory
- Minerals under examination: hardness, radioactivity, fluorescence, magnetism, …
- Crystallographic models in wood, glass, plexiglas and…wire-iron
- Journey into the atomic structures of Diamond, Graphite and Fullerene
- The “articulated” models of twin crystals
- The smallest and oldest geometric models of crystals ever built…with user manual
- All existing crystalline forms…in a shoebox
Mineralogy on paper
Books, prints, photos and documents
- Reproductions of the oldest books of Earth Sciences
- The longest paper miners parade in history
- The volume of the Diderot-D’Alembert Encyclopedie (1756) with hand-colored plate
- Mineralogy explained in all languages: from Chinese to Arabic, from Latin to Basque
- Manuscripts of famous mineralogists…and anonymous
- Statutes of ancient mines and mining shares from around the world
- Diamond certificates and gold vein analysis
- The first mineralogy book published in Italy and the first Italian mineralogical text
- The 13th century Lapidary
- Snapshots of women in the mine: from China to the former Soviet Union
- The group photo of the musician miners
- The last photograph of the Excelsior diamond just before it was cut
Philately and numismatics
Stamps and coins
- The first stamp dedicated to the Mineral Kingdom
- The first postage stamp featuring miners
- The stamp of the international symbol of mining
- The stamps dedicated to minerals and mines
- Coins of the free state of Katanga
- The daily banknote of Chinese miners
- The oldest Italian medal dedicated to a mine
- The medal that for the first time in history depicts hammers as mining symbols
- The American half dollar minted with the gold of the Californian golden rush
- Medals with inclusion of meteorites
- Ancient coins imprinted in the lava of Vesuvius
POP mineralogy
Films, comics and figurines
- Mineralogical-mining themed movies in DVD: the history of cinema from Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin to Harrison Ford and Leonardo Di Caprio
- An autographed still from the film “Journey to the Center of the Earth”
- The original poster of the film “Journey to the Center of the Earth”
- Mining-mineralogical themed strips and comics from all over the world: Mickey Mouse, Tex, Superman, Martin Mystere, Zagor, Blueberry, …
- The first Italian comic strip dedicated to gold
- The statue of Diabolik with an emerald
- The Liebig and Lavazza figurines dedicated to mineralogy
- Antique figurines of famous diamonds
- Mineralogists astronauts in figurines from the 1950s