Amethyst - the fascinating gemstone with a history
Lecture by the Museum of Natural History, 18 April, 6.30 pm, TIETZ event hall
As part of the special exhibition "BRILLANT, VIOLET, VERSATILE - Amethyst from the heart of the Ore Mountains", Prof. Klaus Thalheim will be giving fascinating insights into the world of amethysts in his lecture "Amethyst - the fascinating gemstone with a history" next Wednesday, 18 April at 6.30 pm in the TIETZ event hall. Admission is free of charge.
The name of the gemstone was borrowed from the Greek "amethystos", which means "to keep from drunkenness" or "unintoxicated". For mineralogists, amethyst is the violet variety of the mineral quartz. The Erzgebirge is not only the richest European mountain range for cobalt, bismuth and uranium ores, it is also the richest area for amethyst. Deposits such as Geyer, Drebach, Wiesenbad, Mildenau, Wolkenstein, Warmbad/Großolbersdorf, Marienberg-Gelobtland, Pobershau and Purschenstein have gone down in history. The Ore Mountains can be described as the "land of amethysts". In terms of concentration and diversity, there is nothing comparable in Europe.
The local amethyst was first mentioned in the mid-16th century by Agricola, who referred to the stone as "hyacinth". It was at this time that it was also used for the ornate borders of altarpieces in the town church of Penig. Even Chemnitz is home to this special treasure in a work of art: in 1978, the artist Carl-Heinz Westenburger was commissioned to create a wall mosaic 8.5 metres wide and 3.5 metres high, showing Pobershau amethyst, among other things. The listed work of art "Industrial Landscape of the Ore Mountains" is currently not open to the public. Information on this can be found in the museum's special exhibition.
Why is there so much amethyst in the Ore Mountains? Throughout the earth's history, earthquakes have repeatedly torn apart the hard gneiss. Minerals from hot aqueous solutions were deposited in the resulting fissures. This created vein-like fissure fillings with amethyst. Its colour can vary from a light, slightly pink to a dark purple and is due to the presence of iron in the silica solutions. The violet colour is ultimately caused by radioactive irradiation from the surrounding rock.
Prof Klaus Thalheim is Section Head and Curator of Mineralogy at the Senckenberg Natural History Collections in Dresden. He is also an honorary professor of applied mineralogy at the TU Dresden.