9:38 a.m., April 20, 2009----The University of Delaware has announced the re-opening of the Mineralogical Museum after a complete renovation and re-installation.

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The Mineralogical Museum originated with the 1964 gift to the University of the collection of Irenée du Pont Sr.

With the support of the Crystal Trust, the collection's present location in Penny Hall opened in 1971. Since that time, the collection has grown through the generosity of many donors.

The renovation of the museum in 2008 was made possible through support from the Unidel Foundation, Mrs. David Craven and Frederick Keidel.

Themes represented in the permanent display include:

* Minerals from the original gift from the Estate of Irenée du Pont, Sr. Many of these are from localities that have been mined out or that no longer produce specimens: the pyrite from Leadville, Colorado, azurite from Tsumeb, Namibia or one of the largest known topaz crystals from Texas;

* Gem crystals including California kunzites and tourmalines, aquamarines and emeralds;

* External forms of a crystal or group of crystals: tree-like branches of copper, leaves of gold, latticelike groups of cerussite and crocoite and globular forms such as the mint green prehnite group from Prospect Park, N.J.; and

* Pseudomorphs and other growth phenomena, such as twisted and elongated crystals, or pairs of minerals, the second being a replacement -- pseudomorph -- of the first.

Other displays are arranged by continent with emphasis on the aesthetics of these remarkable natural objects:

* The United States is well represented by some local specimens such as the 9-inch group of calcite crystals from York, Pa., and the complexly curved tourmaline from Elkton, Md., as well as fine examples of gold from California and fluorites from Illinois and Tennessee;

* The display of Mexican/South American minerals highlights a wulfenite from the San Francisco Mine in Sonora, Mexico with paper-thin orange crystals; a lustrous muscovite with 5 inch hexagonal crystals from the Ipe Mine, Minas Gerais, Brazil - sure to astonish anyone who has collected flakes of mica around Delaware and the East; and

* Spectacular colors -green torbernite, dioptase and fluorite and bright orange Moroccan vanadinites characterize the display of African minerals.

Changing exhibitions are also on view. The first includes copper specimens from the Keweenaw Peninsula in Michigan - natural crystal sculptures of amazing complexity and form.

An exhibition case reserved for a visiting collection opens with specimens from the collection of David A. Byers, a long time donor to the Mineralogical Museum.

Not many minerals come to have names, but one in this case does. “Alma Jack” is an exceptionally large rhodochrosite crystal from the Sweet Home Mine, Alma, Colo.

The Alma King is at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science, the Queen is at the Houston Museum of Natural Science and Jack is visiting Delaware.

For regular hours, see the Web site.