Scientific and historical value of the rhodochrosite collection of the Yevhen Lazarenko Mineralogical Museum (Lviv, Ukraine)

[Цільмак, О., Бурбан, К., Бучинська, А., Борняк, У., Дворжак, Т. Наукова та історична цінність колекції родохрозиту Мінералогічного музею імені Євгена Лазаренка (Львів, Україна)]

Oksana Tsilmak, https://orcid.org/0009-0009-5701-2866

Kateryna Burban, https://orcid.org/0009-0002-9961-5680

Albertyna Buchynska, https://orcid.org/0009-0009-6133-6118

Ulyana Bornyak, https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1214-4821

Tetyana Dvorzhak, https://orcid.org/0009-0007-6488-3438

Ivan Franko National University of Lviv (Lviv, Ukraine)

Cite as

Tsilmak, O., Burban, K., Buchynska, A., Bornyak, U., & Dvorzhak. T. (2026). Scientific and historical value of the rhodochrosite collection of the Yevhen Lazarenko Mineralogical Museum (Lviv, Ukraine). GEO&BIO, 28, 7-16. [Ukrainian, with English summary]

doi: https://doi.org/10.53452/gb2802

pdf: G&B №28-2026_7-16_Tsilmak.pdf

Abstract

The collection of rhodochrosite of the Yevgen Lazarenko Mineralogical Museum has been described in detail. The collection includes 22 samples of rhodochrosite from deposits and ore occurrences in Europe (Romania, Germany, Serbia, Ukraine), Asia (Tajikistan), North America (USA) and South America (Peru). Based on the analysis of the accompanying information recorded in the catalogs and original labels, four stages in the history of the formation of the rhodochrosite collection in the Mineralogical Museum have been identified: stage 1 — 1870–1880s (15 samples), stage 2 — 1920s (one sample), stage 3 — 1960s (four samples), stage 4 — after 2000 (two samples). The majority of old samples with rhodochrosite were purchased from the well-known dealer centers ‘Chemische Fabrik & Mineral handlung’ of Theodor Schugardt and ‘Dr. F. Krantz Rheinisches Mineralien-Kontor’ of Friedrich Krantz. The collection also contains samples of rhodochrosite donated by such famous Ukrainian mineralogists as Orest Matkovsky, Leonid Stankevych, Yevhen Lazarenko, and Leonid Skakun. Samples from Romania are represented by samples from the historical deposits of Săcărâmb (Hunedoara County) and ore district Roșia Montană in Alba County and Cavnic (Bajă Mare ore region in Maramureș County). The Mineralogical Museum holds samples from the Cavnik deposit, which is the type locality for rhodochrosite, and the Săcărâmb deposit, which is the type locality for nagiagite. In the Museum's collection, rhodochrosite is observed in the form of drusy aggregates composed of cleaved rhombohedral crystals of light pink color, rosettes of curved lamellar (flattened) crystals of rhombohedral shape of raspberry-pink color, craggy aggregates of pale pink color, as well as pseudomorphoses from the remains of bivalve mollusks in an earthy aggregate of iron oxides and hydroxides (Komysh-Burunske deposit, Crimea, Ukraine). The rhodochrosite collection has scientific, educational and historical significance, and its example allows us to study the diversity of morphology, the peculiarities of the formation of rhodochrosite as a mineral species, and the wide geography of its distribution regions.

Key words

rhodochrosite, collection, mineralogy, museum, type locality

Correspondence to

Oksana Tsilmak; Ivan Franko National University of Lviv; 4 Mykhaila Hrushevskoho Street, Lviv 79005, Ukraine; e-mail: oksana.tsilmak@lnu.edu.ua

Article info

Submitted: 01.11.2025. Revised: 22.12.2025. Accepted: 27.02.2026

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