The scenography of the exhibition signed by Jouin Manku Agency invited the visitor to discover a universe in motion, with changing colors and materials. Embracing the sensations and fascinations aroused by precious stones, the duo composed of designer Patrick Jouin and architect Sanjit Manku designed a sequenced journey in three stages, whose multiple circulations follow and illustrate the phases of formation of minerals and their transformation by humankind.

Diving into the bowels of the Earth and then reaching the surface, this exploration builds on George Sand's little-known novel, Laura: A Journey into the Crystal, which inspired Jules Verne for his Journey to the Center of the Earth. The narrative unfolded throughout the exhibition mixes two times, the vertiginous one of the cosmos and that of humanity, and two scales: the infinitely large and the infinitely small. To navigate these conceptions of space and time, Jouin Manku Agency has opted for a treatment of light, color and materials in the service of fluidity and a play of contrasts and transparencies.

Also, the depths correspond to dark tones. Telluric convulsions are similar to warm colors that evolve to cooler tones as one rises to the surface. A succession of circular spaces represents this dynamic described in particular in the second part of the exhibition. This stroll continues smoothly, from friezes to  windows, in a Paris of inventions and innovations from the Grand Siècle to the present day.

Thus, within the Grande Galerie de l'Évolution, Pierres précieuses continued the dialogue between art and science begun in 2016 during the exhibition The Art and Science of Gems presented in Singapore. Here, the intention  of the scenographers, who handle abundant scientific data and many exceptional creations, is to provide the visitor with a timeless walk where curiosity remains constantly solicited and maintained. If it leads to many discoveries, it retains to precious stones and nature their wonderful part.

This is why the designers imagined at the heart of the exhibition a luminous space, stretched with a translucent white textile. Inspired by a cave discovered in Mexico containing spectacular giant crystals, this punctuation in the exhibition serves as a landmark, even a meditative space.

Whether natural or worked by the hand of man and because they belong to a time that exceeds the human scale, precious stones have a beauty and a life of their own that the exhibition celebrates and that its architecture intends to serve faithfully.