Royal Cornwall Museum reopened mineral gallery displays 3,500 years of mining history
The redevelopment is part of £476,000 from Truro's Town Deal Board and Cornwall Council
Last updated 12th Jul 2024
Royal Cornwall Museum’s has re-opened its Mineral Gallery as part of a £476,000 redevelopment plan.
The Mineral Gallery transformation has been made possible thanks to part funding of from Truro’s Town Deal Board and Cornwall Council and shares 3,500 years of Cornwall's mining history.
The re-opened exhibition is home to over one million artefacts, including the globally significant collection of more than 12,000 mineral samples.
Louis Gardner, Cornwall Council cabinet portfolio holder for economy, said: "It’s great to see the results of the Town Deal funding coming to fruition with the opening of the transformed gallery that brings to life Cornwall’s history and looks forward to an exciting future. This Town Deal investment in such an innovative cultural asset will promote our rich and unique heritage to visitors, as well as supporting a thriving cultural heritage sector and the wider economy of the city."
Closed since January 2024 for redevelopment, the newly imagined space has been designed in consultation with the museum’s visitors with a vision to bring the story of the specimens to life.
With a unique geology, Cornwall has more varieties of minerals than anywhere else in Britain which have been mined and used for centuries, with the most important minerals for industry being tin and copper. Mining of these minerals led to the discovery of others, with practical uses, beautiful forms, or scientific value and by the 1700s, through trade, Cornish minerals had widely spread across the globe.
Cornwall is emerging once again as an important player in mineral extraction with the Lithium industry.
Frances Wall, professor of applied mineralogy at Camborne School of Mines, said: "Minerals are the building blocks of the earth, with the unique geology and minerals of Cornwall having shaped the history of this region.
"We probably don't think about minerals very much and yet everything we do, every day relies on minerals. Humans do two things- we grow plants and nurture animals, and every other material we use comes from the minerals in the earth. Phones, gadgets, high-tech renewable energy devices, cars, trains, machinery - all rely on minerals, so we should care about them very much."
Bryony Robins, artistic director for the museum, said: "The Mineral Gallery is the first exhibition space in the museum to undergo an upgrade as part of our transformation project and we’re delighted to be re-opening its doors. This gallery holds a special place in many people’s hearts, in part not just because so many of the minerals are beautiful, but also because it’s an important collection for understanding Cornish mining and minerals and the role that mining continues to play in Cornwall. Our goal is to ensure that these improvements protect our collections and Institution, so future generations can continue to learn, explore, and visit us for another 200 years."
Miners would often save exceptional samples for collectors, which ultimately found their way to the museum. The fame of Cornish mines and minerals attracted many collectors, with Philip Rashleigh one of the most significant, with Royal Cornwall Museum the caretakers of his 250-year-old collection, containing several minerals that were the first of their kind to be formally identified.
Dr Eva Marquis, Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Camborne School of Mines, University of Exeter commented: “Cornwall has had a recent renaissance in its mining history. Since around 2016, we've had an influx of companies searching for minerals essential for applications including lithium-ion batteries and solder for electronics. Royal Cornwall Museum’s impressive collection not only gives a broad understanding of the processes that formed our planet, but also how we're using those minerals to help with our climate change ambitions.”