Mont Blanc Crystals

Myth and fantasy have always characterised crystals. It was once thought that possessing one gave you the power of flight.

For centuries, the brilliance, hardness and purity of Mont Blanc crystals has fuelled the passion of crystal hunters and amateur collectors, not to mention poets and novelists.
Unique pieces of rare beauty such as hyaline, fumé, rock, and morion quartz crystal, as well as many others: a collection of forms and colours that allow us to discover the treasures hidden in the heart of our mountains.

Crystals are one of the fundamental sources of evidence for the Earth’s evolutionary processes, of the countless shifts and changes occurring for millions of years.

The jewels in the Punta Helbronner exhibition were collected by the cristalliers (“crystal hunters”), great enthusiasts of these minerals who over the years have climbed and scoured our mountain trails to allow us all to appreciate these unique finds.

For centuries, Mont Blanc crystals have fuelled the passion of diggers and enthusiasts

The present collection has kindly been lent to us by the Associazione Les Amis di Berio, the first association in the Valle d’Aosta entirely dedicated to the search for and study of crystals, but also by various other cristalliers, whose names are indicated next to the pieces exhibited.

It was precisely the search for crystals that drove Jacques Balmat and Michel Gabriel Paccard, the first climbers to reach the top of Mont Blanc, to pick out the correct route to reach the peak. Indeed, on 8 August 1786, while searching for crystals, the two explorers found the route that would take them to the top. Currently (since 2008, regional law n. 10), for the purpose of protecting the environmental heritage of our mountains, it is prohibited to search for and collect crystals on the Italian side of Mont Blanc.
The crystals on display here were collected prior to this prohibition.

The crystal exhibition can be admired at Punta Helbronner. Entrance is free.