After a hearty breakfast, we checked out and left our luggage at the hotel reception. We were taking the Desert Express Train to Windhoek but our departure was not until 2:30 that afternoon, so we still had time to enjoy Swakopmund that morning.
My husband had his heart set on visiting the Kristall Galerie, so off we went.
The Kristall Galerie is a private gallery housed in a modern three-storey building that features the world’s largest collection of quarts crystals, as well as an array of rocks, minerals, meteorites, and gemstones. What started as a hobby for rock enthusiast and collector Johannes Adolf Kleynhans, resulted to the founding of this gallery in 1998. Aha! This was why my husband wanted to come here. He shares the same passion as this man.
The front yard of the gallery was a preview of things to come. It was laden with huge boulders, said to be the remains of a volcanic eruption.
Inside, there were seven sections – The Gallery Displays, the Crystal Cave, the Gem Garden, the Manufacturing Studio, the Craft Area, the Gem Shop, and La Tourmaline Jewelry Boutique.
The Gallery Displays is dominated by the largest crystal cluster in the foyer. Discovered at the Farm Otjua in the Karibb District in 1985, it is three meters high, three meters wide, weighs 14,100 kilograms, and is said to be over 520 million years old. Its excavation lasted five years. I posed for a picture beside it and it surely dwarfed me.
There was also a variety of humongous quartz crystals displayed in this section, all sitting there like glittering thrones fit for a crystal queen. I had never seen them this big before. It is very humbling to realize what Mother Nature can create.
In one corner is a rainbow array of tourmaline stones. Tourmaline is a crystalline boron silicate mineral compounded with elements such as aluminium, iron, magnesium, sodium, lithium, or potassium and is classified as a semi-precious stone. Because it comes in many hues, the display was quite colourful, from the deep reds to the yellow-brown varieties. Some unique samples include “watermelon” tourmaline, because it does look like one, and the “cat’s eye” one. Other mineral displays include amethysts, pyrites, pietersites, sphalerites, aquamarines, sulfurs, selenites, copper, and others – all from Namibian soil.
The Crystal Cave is a tunnel construction that replicates the original Otjua Tourmaline Mine with its twists and turns. Passing through it was like engaging in a child’s play of pretend-mining or spelunking. On the other hand, the Gem Garden is like a playground where kids and kids-at-heart can search for treasures from amongst the hundreds of tumbled semi-precious stones waiting to be discovered.
At the Manufacturing Studio, we got to see professional gold and silversmiths at work, as they set natural gemstones in 14 to 18 karat gold or sterling silver jewelry pieces, while at the Craft Area, we watched artisans create various gift items with the use of gemstones – plates, cups, wine glasses, decorative items, and many more.
The last two sections were retail shops. The Gem Shop offers gemstone mementoes – bead necklaces, sterling silver jewelry, rough specimens, small carvings, and other art objects made from gemstones. The La Tourmaline Jewelry Boutique offers fine jewelry crafted after German standards and beautifully cut stones ready to be set. Some jewelry pieces are enhanced with sparkling diamonds for those that prefer the additional “bling.”
Since I am not much of a jewelry fanatic, my husband and I spent more time at the Gem Shop where he meticulously compared and picked rough specimens to take home. I just watched my husband turn into a child let loose in a big candy store.
The rest of our morning was spent going around the now-familiar streets of downtown Swakopmund and returning to the stores that piqued our interest from the previous days to do some last-minute shopping for items that we forgot to get, or items that we had been thinking of getting after a night of sleeping on it. Then we walked back to our hotel, ate a quick lunch at their restaurant, grabbed our luggage, and hailed a taxi to take us to the Swakopmund Railway Station where we would board the Desert Express to go back to Windhoek.
Photo Credit:
namibiangemstones.com
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