The Sunday before last, because I was in the area and because it was included in my I Amsterdam pass card, I decided to check out the Diamant Museum (Diamond Museum if you couldn't tell). It gives a good overview of the history of diamonds in Amsterdam, educates you on how and where diamonds are mined, cut, and polished, and shows replicas and originals of famous and interesting diamonds.
Amsterdam became a very important centre of diamond production and trade in the 17th century when persecuted Jews relocated to Amsterdam. They were not admitted to the craftsman guilds but were allowed to polish diamonds - and so the trade developed. Today, polishing has relocated to Asia, but Amsterdam is still an important city for diamond trade. Nearby Antwerp is the big centre today though - they trade 80% of the world's rough diamonds and 50% of the cut diamonds.
In addition to showing old equipment and processes the museum has one of the world's smallest diamonds (too small to take a picture of) as well as these interesting finds:
Van Gogh's "Starry Night" embellished with tons of diamonds:
A close-up
A tennis racquet and ball covered in diamonds
A sword (Japanese I think). This was interesting because the blade is murano glass as well:
A skull. I'm not sure why there was a skull. But it was in a small room shaped like a diamond (like you were inside) covered in mirrors and playing "Diamonds are a girl's best friend"
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