The gigantic piece of amethyst at the entrance gives a good hint. The chunk of mineral larger than a dinner platter looks raw, prehistoric, and a whole lot more permanent than you. Its purple depths are alien with crystals larger than your fist. This is like experiencing your childhood rock collection were you transformed by a miniaturizing machine.
Reporters at the media preview seemed strangely immune to the amethyst’s powers as they continued into the Teck Galleries, which opened to the public over the December break. For that age that hops more than walks, this might as well have been kryptonite. They were powerless in its grasp. Must. Touch. MASSIVE CRYSTAL! With an allure not so much to learn as to be amazed, reactions ranged from “pretty cool” to “super awesome!”
“The Meteors were my favourite part,” opined Keighvin, 12. “If I could add any piece to my collection, it would be a meteor.” Currently on loan to the ROM is the world’s largest lunar meteorite. This specimen of the lunar highlands is scientifically significant not least for being from a previously unsampled part of Earth’s closest neighbour. The ROM’s own meteorite collection is impressive, totaling one third of the world’s known lunar and Martian meteorites.
The galleries contain twice the number of rock and mineral specimens as exhibited previously. Their displays do a fair job of explaining the classification of minerals, physical and scientific properties, the geologic conditions in which they occur, and the causes of colouration, though this contextualization is fairly thin. Occasionally the exhibit takes a strange perspective of orienting geologic occurrences, almost as if the earth presaged our later use. “Luckily for future miners and mineral collectors, glaciers then removed most of the sedimentary rock,” one display reads.
In one corner sits a piece of industry propaganda called the Canadian Mining Hall of Fame, determined to let the gallery-goer know the importance of mining to the Canadian economy, and our reliance on mined substances for almost everything we use. Both points are valid, but nowhere did the galleries mention the ecological damage almost inherent to mining, nor the labour disputes that often mire this lucrative business. The suite of galleries is named after Canada’s largest diversified mining company. Teck President and CEO Donald R. Lindsay sits on the ROM Board of Governors.
The inclusion of 42 computer kiosks throughout the minerals gallery highlights the collector’s desire. At each glass case a touch screen allows viewers to zoom in on what they might wish they could hold in their hand. The visual aspect was a favourite of Roshon, 8. “I liked the colours of the different minerals. I liked how they are in different shapes and everything.”
The minerals do slightly show up the Gallery of Gems and Gold, which is currently displaying Light & Stone: Gems from the Collection of Michael Scott. The amazing collection of ornamentation proves humans are clearly secondary artists when compared to the beauty of the raw material.
Serendite is like stalks of coral made brittle from being packed in analcime ice. Ram’s horn gypsum is a playful curlique of smoke. Rutile may as well be an Art Deco stylized alliteration of the sun, even if the six-ray golden titanium oxide needles are arranged by the atomic structure of the iron oxide hematite.
Did the galleries’ biggest fans learn anything? “Primary, secondary, tertiary minerals?” Marcus, 14, tentatively offered. Daniel, 13, said that his dad has a rock collection. “He taught me a bit so I learned only a little bit here. But it was cool just to take a look.” Deanna, 11, concurred: “This is just fun.”
