Conservation Lighting

The Hope Diamond

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Valued in excess of an astonishing US$200 million, The Hope Diamond is not only the largest and most famous blue diamond in existence, but is also claimed to be the most viewed artefact in the world. The daily queues around the Rotunda in the National Museum of Natural History in Washington DC to view the diamond would bear testament to this.

However the previous lighting system installed meant that visitors viewing the diamond were generally disappointed, seeing only a dull, lifeless, grey-blue stone. As a result, a US$13 million refurbishment plan was implemented which involved moving the stone to a new home in the museum's Hall of Geology, Gems and Minerals and designing a new storage vault and lighting system.

"... a triumph of creativity in contemporary lighting technology"

We were given the daunting task of designing the most elaborate bespoke lighting system that ever generated to illuminate a single artefact and to design a system for the whole of the gem collection.

All the fibre optic equipment specified in the resulting design had to be contained within some very tight constraints, resulting in a combination of achromatic lenses, prisms, graticules, optical mirrors and baffles being developed in order to bend, control and image the light to create the desired effect. Viewing the finished exhibit, no hint is given of the complexity of the lighting system as no mechanical or optical equipment is visible. Access will not be required for maintenance. Museum staff will merely have to open the lid to the soffit and replace two lamps.

The Hope Diamond now 'sparkles, dazzles and glows' according to the Senior Curator at the museum.

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