A Capital of the World by Matt Morley
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The Antwerp Diamond Museum is an 1100 sq m space that tells the story of this most precious of jewels.
Diamonds take up to 2billion years to form deep within the earth’s crust (100-200km beneath the surface to be precise). To put that in perspective, the dinosaurs were alive 100-200million years ago and human beings only arrived 200,000 years ago, which means that when we wear a diamond today, we are effectively wearing a piece of natural history.
When carbon is compressed by the equivalent pressure of 12 elephants standing on a human finger and heated to 1200 degrees centigrade, it gradually takes on the characteristics of a diamond. It is only when a volcanic eruption brings this material to the surface however, that it can ever be discovered by man.
Diamond is the hardest material in the world according to the Mohs Scale (a classification system for mineral hardness). In its simplest form, the Mohs Scale is designed to show which materials are harder or softer than others; those with a higher number will scratch and cut those with a lower number.
Diamond, which is a 10 (the maximum), cannot be scratched by anything other than another diamond. It is for this reason that diamonds should not be allowed to rub against each other as they are likely to cause mutual damage.
There is some debate over when the first diamonds were discovered but India undoubtedly dominated production from ancient times until the early 18th-century. They were then discovered in Brazil, South Africa and Siberia in the 19th-century, before Australia and Canada joined the ranks of the major diamond producing countries in the latter half of the 20th-century.
Where diamonds are mined and where they are traded however, are rarely one and the same thing. In the 14th and 15th-centuries, Venice was the centre of world trade due to its links with the east but it was Bruges that became known as the pre-eminent diamond-cutting centre of the time. In the latter half of the 15th-century Bruges began to lose out to nearby Antwerp, a city with a large port and general levels of modernity that were considered major advantages for trade and industry.
Soon Antwerp was seen as the commercial heart of Europe; approximately 40% of all world trade passed through its port and the ‘manipulation’ of diamonds (their cutting and polishing) became its speciality. Only Lisbon, the locus of the Brazilian diamond trade, could hope to compete in terms of power and influence.
Today, Antwerp’s diamond sector is responsible for US$ 29billion in diamond sales each year, which accounts for around 8% of all Belgian exports. So it seems fitting that the city has such an impressive tribute to its core industry in the shape of the Diamond Museum.
This season, the major exhibition here is called Diamond Divas. The focus is on Hollywood actresses and celebrities who have become known for owning and wearing some of the more fabulous pieces of diamond-based jewellery.
Stars such as Sophia Loren, Joan Collins, Anita Ekberg and Halle Berry are shown at their sparkling best, while space is also dedicated to specific pieces by Cartier, the ‘Moon of Baroda’ necklace worn by Marilyn Munroe with its canary yellow 24 carat diamond, as well as the ‘Taylor-Burton’ diamond that attests to the great romance between Elisabeth Taylor and Richard Burton.