The Empress of Uruguay - A Legendary Amethyst

  Found in northern Uruguay, the Empress of Uruguay stands nearly 11 feet tall. Comprised of an outer rim of granitic rock, the cavernous inside is filled with deep purple crystal amethysts.  

Crystal Caves

This gorgeous display of nature's artistry holds the distinction of being the largest amethyst geode in the world. When first discovered in the Artigas mine, the geode was immediately offered for sale to René and Nelleke Boissevain. The Boissevains continue to maintain an active relationship with the mines in Uruguay, as they add to their collections at Crystal Caves in Australia. As they proclaim on their website, "The Crystal Caves will rock your world!" In 1987, founder René Boissevain built the first chamber of crystals all by himself in the beautiful Atherton Tablelands in Queensland, Australia. In 1992, he hired a team to help him expand the cave to include grottos, tunnels, crawl spaces, and more chambers. At the Crystal Caves, visitors walk, crawl, and gape through the five chambers filled with over 600 mineral and fossil specimens collected over the past several decades. Staff encourage their guests to touch, explore, and take lots and lots of photos. Visitors can even crack open their own Mexican coconuts, ancient geodes which formed 44 million years ago during a volcanic eruption in Chihuahua. Geode crackers use special tools supplied by staff to discover wondrous crystal formations within. It's anybody's guess what type of crystal drusy will emerge.  

The Empress of Uruguay

So many important and wondrous specimens grace the Crystal Caves. However, the most famous is the Empress of Uruguay. René Boissevain purchased it in 2007 for $75,000. It took three months for miners to extract the geode from the solid basalt it called home for some 130 million years. René then paid $25,000 to ship it (carefully) from Uruguay to Queensland. It arrived completely intact, at which time two large cranes lowered the Empress into her permanent home in the caves. Today the Empress is the main attraction of the Crystal Caves Museum. As with all the displays, visitors are encouraged to touch her tens of thousands of gem-quality, deep purple amethyst crystals. Even after touching her, the Empress of Uruguay defies belief. She weighs 5,500 pounds, slightly larger than a grown elephant. Visitors can view the Empress almost any day of the year. The Crystal Caves are open daily, with the exception of New Year’s Day, Good Friday, Christmas Day, and Boxing Day. Staff encourage visitors to allow at least an hour to fully experience the caves. For more information, I invite you to visit their website.