The Royal Cornwall Museum’s mineral exhibition opens after a £476,000 refurbishment

The gallery has been closed since January for a £476,000 refurbishment.

Chair of the Royal Institution of Cornwall, the charity behind the museum, Julie Caplin Gray, said it was vital they made the collection more accessible to all people.

“If you’re a geologist, you love them because they’re minerals, and they’re actually very beautiful, so you can enjoy them for their beauty,” she said.

“But there’s something about what we’re trying to do with interpretation, which is to connect the dots to how they’re relevant now, whether it’s the cell phone or the car battery, there’s that kind of connectivity.

“We need to tell that story because it is the story of Cornwall, past and present.”