The Tower of London’s Crown Jewel exhibition, which reopened in May, is a turning point in the museum’s narrative. As British institutions have increasingly made moves to investigate their connections to slavery, there has been a gradual acceptance of the complicated nature of the nation’s history, which does not sit comfortably in the binaries of good and bad, just and unjust or barbaric and kind.
The Crown Jewel exhibition showcases the effect of these changing narratives in its display of the Koh-i-noor and Cullinan diamonds.
Displayed as part of the museum’s larger collections of crowns, coronation regalia and other royal jewels dating from the middle ages, the two controversial diamonds are the key attractions of the exhibition. It explains how they originated in the colonies, travelled to Britain and were cut to be added to royal crowns.
