Larimar Museum (Museo del Larimar)

The only place in the world where Larimar is mined is in the Dominican Republic. A good place to buy this spectacular and rare gem is at the Larimar Museum in the Colonial Zone.

Larimar is a blue variety of the mineral Pectolite. Pectolite is not a rare mineral and can be found in Canada, the United States as well as many other countries throughout the world. The stone comes in shades of blue, green, white, gray, and red.

However, the exquisite blue variety, known as Larimar, can only be found in the Dominican Republic. This variety, with multi-hues ranging from sky-blue to sea-blue, has a white spider-veined look to it. The deeper the blue, the more precious the stone.

Larimar is a relatively new discovery. Although the stone was formed by volcanoes many millions of years ago, the first written reference did not appear until 1916. It didn’t make its commercial debut until 1974 in mountainous southwestern Dominican Republic in a town called Barahona which overlooks the Caribbean Sea.

The semi-precious stone, used by thousands of practitioners of alternative and holistic medicine, is thought to have a calming effect on the wearer and is believed to support the body’s natural healing process. Some people even consider Larimar to be a good luck stone.

The cool blue stone was named after the daughter of the first commercial supplier. The name Larimar is a combination of LARIssa (his daughter) and el MAR (the sea). A wide variety of necklaces, earrings and other Larimar jewelry is available at the Larimar Museum shop. The vivid blue gemstone is most spectacular in a silver setting. The shop is on the ground floor of the museum on Calle Isabel La Católica. The museum is on the second floor. There are English and Spanish language signs that explain the discovery, mining and scientific details of the blue Pectolite stone.

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