The Mineral Exhibition

The exhibition comprises two large halls and two smaller rooms - a total of more than 300 m². The major part of the two halls is occupied by the systematic exhibition, where the minerals are presented in a crystal chemical order starting with elements such as gold and silver and ending with silicates such as feldspar and zeolites.

To this must be added thematic exhibits about famous Greenland occurrences, zeolites and calcite from Iceland and the Faeroe Islands, silver from Kongsberg, Baltic amber and a small display of precious stones. In connection with Mineral Hall II is found a small exhibition about crystals and their properties and in the rotunda outside Mineral Hall I is shown an exhibition "Mineral of the Month", where each month for the next three years selected pieces from the collections are shown. Finally there is a small exhibit about fluorescent minerals in a small room joining the rotunda.

 
Silver from Kongsberg, Norway

The amber piece was found in 1665

Amber specimen of approx. 1200 grams
The amber specimen was found at "Nørdre Port, Graven A", which means that it was found at present-day Nørreport. This was in 1665, when they were improving the fortifications of Copenhagen after the disastrous Dano-Swedish Wars. Moats and ramparts were constructed and in this connection they hit some so-called "amber twig layer", which are layers deposited by rivers and consisting of small twigs and coal and amber pieces. Amber is fossil resin and derives originally from some pine trees which in the Tertiary grew on a highland approximately where the Gulf of Bothnia is today. The amber has since been rebedded several times by glaciers and glacial torrents and is today found around the Baltic Sea and in the North Sea.

The amber specimen weighs approx. 1200 grams. It was included the Royal Cabinet of Curiosities. In 1755 a piece was cut off and given to the king. Today it is exhibited in Mineral hall I in the Geological Museum, Copenhagen.