Turquoise from Iran documentary of Patrick Voillot
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This film will take you to one of the world’s most inaccessible countries, yet one of the most fascinating. For centuries, the Iranians have been extracting the most exquisite turquoises in our planet.
The mines are located in the east of the country, near the border with Afghanistan, where no foreigners can enter. It is near the town of Nishapur, in desert-like surroundings, that for the last four centuries these exquisite turquoises are extracted.
The men in the village of Firuze (Persian for turquoise) have from one generation to the next been digging in the mountains. In the endless tunnels the miners look for blue veins which pass through the dark rock. The older men sort out the stones on the floor of the mine and then store them in a well guarded room while waiting for their monthly auction held in the mine itself. Only known merchants who are genuine Iranians are admitted.
Turquoises purchased in this way fuel a sizeable artisanal crafts industry in the holy city of Mashad. In the bazaars the jewelers make large quantities of ornaments, in particular silver rings, studded with turquoise and worn by Muslim men following the advice of their prophet. According to Persian tradition, wearing a turquoise keeps away the evil eye and is a protection against enemies.
The Turquoise Route was established long ago. In the treasury vaults of Suse and Persepolis, archeologists discovered large quantities of jewelry adorned with this blue stone; however, the world’s largest known reserves of precious stones and jewels are hidden in the Treasury of the Shahs of Iran, in the depths of Melli Bank’s basements in Tehran. You will have the privilege of being immersed in this Treasury which has hardly ever been filmed.
At the Shah of Iran’s request, the Boucheron family helped in the Treasury’s restoration and its displays as we know them today. This story will be told to you in the film and will allow you to discover jeweler Boucheron’s contemporary turquoise creations.
Trailer Turquoise from Iran by Patrick Voillot
Trailer Turquoise from Iran of Patrick Voillot, Music Stefsax-Awel
The Spinels of Tajikistan documentary of Patrick Voillot
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The large red stones found on the crowns of the Christian kings are spinels. This gem has long been confused with the ruby. ‘Balas Ruby’ is an old name used for the rose-tinted variety, originating from a distortion in linguistics from the region in which it comes from, Badakhshan. This region lies in the current Republic of Tajikistan, close to the Islamic republic of Afghanistan.
This film takes you into Central Asia; into a country not very well known, and you will live an extraordinary adventure!
After crossing through the countries’ rutted trails, the most poor and barren on the continent; after traveling through grandiose scenery, you arrive at the foot of a mine with a mythical name, Kuh I Lal.
No Westerner has ever penetrated this territory; long exploited by the Soviets, production was secretly transported to Moscow.
The galleries are excavated at a very high altitude here, so it is only possible for minors to work in the summer. These men live simply and harshly, in lower lying villages. They remain there all winter; snowed in, with watch dogs to protect them from the wolves’ attacks.
Since the fifth century, from generation to generation, miners have dug tunnels to find this gem, ranging in shades of pink to red. They use very old materials left by the Soviets when the Eastern bloc broke and they abandoned the country.
This mine has always been coveted by the powerful, already the forerunner of the great Mughals Timur, the lame also called Tamerlane in Samarkand burial (you can see the exhumation dating back from the year 40) had sent an army to protect “I Kuh Lal.”
Spinals found in Dushanbe are conveyed by road, under heavy protection. They actually go into a state bank to increase the Treasure of Tajikistan.
Over the centuries, they have enriched the treasury of the Shahs of Iran, the imperial crown of the Tsars, and the Queen of England; we also find the famous Treasury in France, called the Côte de Bretagne.
Then, the jeweler Van Cleef opens the doors of their workshop to design, manufacture and to achieve a gorgeous pendant adorned with rose colored spinels.
Firoza - Turquoise Mines of Nishapur, Mashad, Iran - Press TV Documentary
Firoza - Turquoise Mines of Nishapur, Mashad, Iran - Press TV Documentary
For at least 2,000 years, the region once known as Persia has remained an important source of turquoise. This deposit, which is blue naturally, and turns green when heated due to dehyration, is restricted to a mine-riddled region in Nishapur, the 2,012-metre (6,601 ft) mountain peak of Ali-mersai, which is tens of kilometers from Mashhad, the capital of Khorasan province, Iran. For Details read
Tanzanite from Tanzania documentary of Patrick Voillot
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Millions of years ago, at the foot of Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, the earth gave birth to a very rare blue-mauve stone: the precious Tanzanite.
At this unique site, this gem is extracted in extremely precarious and primitive conditions.
This film will take you on an adventure into the bowels of the earth with the miners who go down these endless tunnels. These serpentine labyrinths wind their way in graphite over several kilometres. Some miners stay their 18 hours at a stretch, enduring temperatures of nearly 50°C.
The gems found are collected by the proprietor of the mine and it is the Massais who go there to buy them. They have the monopoly of the tanzanite trade between the mines and the counters of Arusha where they re-sell them.
After cutting and improving some of these stones, a handful of foreigners who have settled in this town sell and export them to major commercial destinations like the United States, Europe, India and other Asian countries. In this film you will follow every stage of their journey.
Today, the exploitation of tanzanite accounts for the wealth of Arusha; Massais have even constructed buildings with their profits. Some of them, in high spirits, throw wads of notes from the top of their buildings to celebrate their success.
Soon after its discovery in 1968, the New York jeweler Tiffany began commercializing this gem world-wide, till it ranked as the second most sold blue stone in the United States after the sapphire.
You will discover Tiffany’s creations made with this fascinating stone - the tanzanite.
The Emerald of Colombia documentary of Patrick Voillot
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The green triangle, situated in the north of Bogota, is one of the most dangerous places in the world.
The emerald mines of Muzo, Coscuez and Chivor delimit the green triangle and provide the finest emeralds on the planet.
Within this dangerous passionate adventure, this film takes you on the rugged trails that cross the corridors of the Andes that give access to these mines.
With a constant tension due to the proximity of the guerrillas in the middle of a conflict, often officiated by clergy, the owners of the mines organize their exploitations under the protection of large caliber guns.
The mine of Muzo, already exploited before the arrival of the conquistadors, produces the green emeralds of most exceptional quality. The vein is several hundred meters deep in the rock, whose black color contrasts with the white calcite, which contains the crystals of the emerald. Miners work in unbearable heat conditions, and under high surveillance.
Near the mine Chivor, the esmeralderos, or emerald merchants, sell these gems.
You will enter into the new mine, La Pita, whose owners have created an actual village in the middle of the jungle.
The precious stones arrive in a Bogota on the market of the esmeralderos, and they are also cut and improved within the pharmacies of the city.
Specifically for this film, a piece of colonial religious art, the most outstanding known to this day, was let out of the safe of the Gold Museum in Bogota. Name: The Lechuga, a fine gold monstrance covered in more than 5,000 emeralds and other precious stones.
These gems have an exceptional final destination, the Place Vendôme in Paris, where we will see the jeweler Boucheron use these gems in one of their famous creations.
Pearls of Tahiti documentary of Patrick Voillot
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As we dream of turquoise lagoons, of limpid ocean floors where multi-coloured fish brush against you, this film transports you to the South Pacific, where man and nature collaborate closely to give birth to a fascinating gem : the pearl.
Gifted with great dexterity men graft nuclei into mother-of-pearl. After patiently tending to them for two years, the perliculturists retrieve a pearl from the creature’s flesh.
This wondrous animal-mineral creation takes us to a fascinating underwater world, at times infested with sharks.
This film will take you to the impenetrable and inscrutable world of perliculturists. You will fly in private planes, the very same ones which transport the pearls extracted over several days in atolls lost in the middle of the Pacific ocean.
You will see the sorting of pearls, by size, by quality, by colour, before they are auctioned all over the world.
For you La Maison Chanel will open the doors to its history and its contemporary pearl creations.
Ametrine from Bolivia documentary of Patrick Voillot
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The Indians from the tropical forests of Chaco in Bolivia recount that at night plaintive sounds emanate from the Anaï mine.
This legend is still very present in their minds and is connected to the place where one finds this fascinating mauve and yellow stone called ametrine.
While watching this documentary film you will participate in an adventurous expedition to the heart of a little known country, Bolivia.
After several days navigating the Rio Paraguay, which has the largest reserves in the world of crocodiles and piranhas, you will be taken to a place lost in the tropical forest of Chaco in the far east of Bolivia, where wild animals and mosquitoes reign.
Bolivian miners who are long experienced in exploiting the subsoil, discovered one of the largest known geodes : superb crystals covering the edges of a chasm measuring several hundred square metres.
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Isolated from the rest of the world, these teams take it in turn to exploit the precious gem, sort it and send it by boat towards Santa Cruz.
In this town, the rough crystals are transformed into superb cut stones which are then sent to various cities in the country and worldwide.
The route along which the ametrine travels cuts across Bolivia with its wild festivals such as the carnival of Oururo. The stones will be sold in the United States in world’s largest market for precious stones in Tucson, Arizona where Lorenz Baümer, the jeweler in Place Vendôme in Paris, goes to buy these rare gems which he will mount onto his creations.
The sapphires of Kashmir documentary of Patrick Voillot
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Jammu Kashmir is one of the most dangerous regions of the world. There is an undeclared war, and daily guerrilla raids are powered from the border of India and Pakistan.
It is also a region of high mountains that hold the finest sapphires in the world. They are of a blue velvet color whose sweetness and beauty has no equal in the world of gemstones.
Since the split between the two countries, and before this expedition, no westerner has visited this mine.
This film will takes you on an extraordinary expedition: 25 quarries, 5 yaks traversing the High Himalayas; and 150 miles on foot between 3500 meters and 6000 meters (11,000-19,685 feet)... It reveals the extraordinary measure it took to get into the mine, and most notably demonstrates that this is where these rare sapphires are always found.
The expedition starts in the Zanskar Valley; after having passed the Umasi La (5900 meters) in the Himalayas, you will discover the verdant valley of Cashmere.
After several days of walking to reach the summit of the mountain, the Padder mine emerges at 4500 meters; before accessing this mine, there is a police station made of a few stones piled on each other for shelter and few men an inhabited village, called Sumchan.
In this mine, three tents protect all the bare necessities for ten men who work at this vertiginous altitude a few months per year during the summer.
The geologist responsible for this operation, you will enter into the mines with a torch in hand to show you the vein.
You will understand how these exceptional stones are transported on foot by crossing the various hazards such as guerrillas, weather, and other unexpected predators.
Immerse yourself in the Buddhist traditions of these regions; you will see the consecration of a Buddha in the temple of Karsha.
Obviously, the road to sapphires does not stop there. It is Delhi where we find jewelers and lapidaries who are cutting and mounting these stones into jewelry.
Then this film will take you deep into the universe of Maharajas of Jaipur, Kashmir and especially their jeweler who now has the most exceptional of stones and gems; especially Gem Palace with its owner, Sanjay Kaslival.
You will finally enter into the secrets of buyers and creators of the grand house. Place Vendôme, Boucheron.
Diamonds from Guinea documentary of Patrick Voillot
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This film takes you on a dangerous and perilous adventure, penetrating a region in Guinea Conakry which is on the borders of Liberia and Sierra Leone.
This region, frequently traversed by armed militia, is extremely rich in diamonds of great value since sixty percent of them can be utilized in jewelry.
The diamonds are extracted in an artisanal fashion near a town called Banankoro, where the religious fervour of its inhabitants is equaled only by their passion for diamonds and its trade.
You will see the bitter transactions between the miners and their bosses referred to in this country as « mastar ».
You will follow the collectors on their dangerous route taking the precious stones to Conakry.
You will participate in the tough negotiations between the transporters and the merchants of the capital city. All this takes place in a tense atmosphere under heavy armed protection, when thousands of carats will pass before your eyes.
The final destination of these diamonds is Antwerp. You will get a rare chance to see the “Rainbow Collection” belonging to Eddy Elsas, consisting of dozens of coloured diamonds.
Then in London you will learn the secrets of the De Beers building, one of the best protected places in the world, through which transits more than half of the world’s production of diamonds.
The jeweler Mouawad will let you into his world to show you his famous diamonds whose prices defy belief - several million dollars – and in particular a handbag fully inlaid with white and pink diamonds, unique in the world.
Trailer Tourmalines from Madagascar by Patrick Voillot
Trailer Tourmalines from Madagascar of Patrick Voillot, Music Stefsax-Awel
Pigeon Blood Rubies from Burma documentary of Patrick Voillot
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Pigeon Blood Red Rubies from Burma are the rarest, most expensive rubies in the world. The best come from Mogok, a town in the Mandalay Division of Myanmar, near the Chinese border, and closed to all foreigners.
This film takes you into the heart of the region described in Joseph Kessel’s famous mid-twentieth century novel, The Valley of Rubies.
The adventure begins in Rangoon, visiting one of the greatest of Buddhist Temples, the Shwedagon Pagoda, where by reaching the summit; you will have the privilege of contemplating the priceless diamonds and precious jewels adorning the top.
The next part will take you to Mandalay, which has long been host to the Kings of Burma. This is the city where the white marble sculptors work to create the Buddhist monuments.
Then further north, you will enter into the sanctuary of jewels: Mogok, Burma. Many have desired entry, few have had the opportunity.
In this movie, you will discover the traditions and ancestral myths of the inhabitants in this country. As close to mining as you've ever been; you will enter into the galleries leading to the dark bowels of the earth where miners dig the walls with dynamite. You will also be among those who ‘sort’ at the end of each day in the alluvium screen giants. Before your very eyes, miners will extract stones of the most beautiful of red colored stones, called pigeon blood rubies. These gemstones are of exceptional rarity. The Burmese say that seeing one is like seeing the face of God.
You will enter into a world of secrets: mines operated by the military, wealthy merchants who have gems of inestimable value, and finally, markets where the only food for sale are gemstones.
Then you will be invited into the most prohibited of annual auctions in the world, the Emporium in Yangon. Official sales of rubies, jade, pearls and other precious stones from Burma were made in this incredible building.
Finally, you can muse over the creations of jeweler Fred Place Vendôme in Paris.
Colored diamonds of Borneo documentary of Patrick Voillot
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On the hunting grounds of the Dayaks, formerly headhunters in the tropical rainforest Borneo, there are many artisanal diamond deposits found of exceptional colors: yellow, green, blue, pink, red...
Little information is found or circulating about these sites, long protected by natural elements.
Already exploited in the tenth century at the time of Golconda mines in India, they provided among other riches, the diamonds of the Jakarta Treasury in which this film will take you; deep into the coffers and the windows filled with rich crowns, kris (daggers long royal) whose blade was manufactured with metal meteorites and pommel gold set with a variety of gems and a multitude of other jewels set and covered with precious stones.
During this expedition, the film immerses you in exceptional scenes, including that of Shamans that purify villages with diamonds, but the Imams who practice soussouk, the ancestral tradition of implanting diamonds under the skin of their followers.
After having extracted the sediments from the river Landak, and after long journeys, the diamonds are housed with the merchants of Jakarta, then to the different corners of the world, notably, in Antwerp where some men are specialized in the trade of diamond color.
Arthur Langerman, the greatest of colored diamonds specialists, was commissioned by the jeweler Georland to find an incredible amount of gems of the same color, and to ultimately create an unusual ‘gem’: Aston Martin whose dashboard is covered over 5000 diamonds.
You enter into the Chateau of Chantilly, in France to find a pink diamond with an inestimable value; and now hidden deep within a safe: The Conde.
Jade from Guatemala documentary of Patrick Voillot
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In the 16th Century, when the conquistadors led by Cortéz were pillaging his country, Moctezuma, the Aztec emperor, is supposed to have said : « Fortunately these foolish invaders are only interested in gold ; not in our jade ! »
In Guatemala the pre-Columbian Indians, the Mayas in particular, for centuries considered jade to be a sacred stone. They made many objects from it, masks in particular, but it was also a currency for barter.
This film takes you on a veritable archeological adventure.
After much research, two North American archeologists succeeded in finding the exact location of the ancient Indian jade mines which had fallen into oblivion for five centuries.
Through this film you will be privileged to access the Cancuén archeological site which is being excavated. Here, on the route of the Maya jade, archeologists have recently discovered the antique city of a powerful lord who had built a jade industry and who sold the jade in the city-states of the Maya world.
Tikal is on of those cities. It is covered over by the Peten jungles and was abandoned well before the arrival of the conquistadors. In this film the city reveals some of its secrets and treasures.
Have you dreamt of going into the reserves of one of the most famous archeological museums in the world ? By following this documentary adventure you will enter the museum of Guatemala Ciudad where the jade jewelry, the steles, the potteries and mummies are part of the decor.
Antigua is the colonial town preserved from the ravages of time and the surrounding volcanoes. It shelters factories manufacturing copies of ancient jade objects as well as modern jewels.
In this film you will be introduced by a master craftsman to an ancestral custom – that of engraving intaglio on a gem, particularly jade which will be used in the creation of a jewel.
The Treasure of Chumar Bakar documentary of Patrick Voillot
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It has been more than fifteen years since Patrick Voillot produced and directed his first documentary about Chumar Bakar, a mine virtually unknown to Westerners.
Indeed, the markets and the museums receive magnificent and enormous aquamarine crystals from northern Pakistan.
In these high mountains…” An entrusted merchant gave him a photo of a landscape to another world. The curator of the Museum of Natural History in Paris, spoke the same language.
You will follow the author on the steep roads of the KKH, this incredible route, along the Indus, and that in his quest, takes him right to this legendary mythical mine.
Sur la Piste des Pierres Précieuses : Mystère et Renaissance du Jade Maya avec Patrick Voillot
Découvrez le documentaire ARTE Sur la Piste des Pierres Précieuses, un voyage fascinant de 26 minutes dans l'histoire mystique du jade du Guatemala avec le gemmologue renommé, Patrick Voillot.
En 2019, Patrick Voillot, qui a plus de 30 documentaires diffusés sur des chaînes de télévision internationales à son actif, a exploré les mystères enfouis du jade, une pierre précieuse qui tenait une place plus importante que l'or pour les Indiens précolombiens.
À la manière d'un véritable détective des gemmes, Patrick Voillot trace les chemins empruntés par ce joyau sacré, depuis sa place centrale dans la civilisation Maya, jusqu'à sa disparition avec l'arrivée des Espagnols au XVIe siècle, et sa réapparition dans la modernité.
Nous explorons les mines oubliées qui étaient exploitées par les Mayas, et la cité antique de Tikal, un lieu autrefois recouvert par la jungle du Petén, qui révèle progressivement ses secrets. Des visites des réserves du musée archéologique de la ville de Guatemala nous offrent un regard fascinant sur les bijoux en jade, les stèles, les poteries et les momies.
Enfin, nous terminons notre voyage à Antigua, où les artisans d'aujourd'hui travaillent cette pierre précieuse pour créer des reproductions d'objets anciens et des bijoux contemporains. Rejoignez-nous pour cette aventure captivante sur la piste des pierres précieuses.
Trailer The Treasure of Chumar Bakar by Patrick Voillot
The Treasure of the Queen of England documentary of Patrick Voillot
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This film takes you into the most hidden secrets behind the Treasure to the Queen of England.
You will enter into its history, but also discover the ghosts, the murders committed, the coups that rocked the kingdom, and thefts that have been devilishly carried out...
This is also an opportunity for you to discover jewels, precious stones, and other treasures accumulated over the centuries. Through images and archival footage, some long forgotten, you will plunge into the reality of these discoveries.
This documentary film takes you into nations and mines where the most beautiful stones have been found; in South Africa, for the discovery of the largest diamond in the world; and then to Amsterdam, where the famous diamond dealer family, Asscher, which still exists to this day, from father, to son, to grandchild. In the first part of the twentieth century they cut these gems. The current descendant of this family will tell you about their incredible adventure.
Thousands of miles away, in Tajikistan, this film will transport you into the forgotten, but still active mine, where the Black Prince's Ruby was discovered.
You will follow in Golconda, India, the road to Koh I Noor, whose diamond cursed history will be revealed.
Then you will go behind the scenes to the house of Christie's, in London, to assist in the preparation in the auction of the jewels of Princess Margaret.
Finally, you will meet with the players to the life of the Treasure; the Jeweler of the Jewels, the only man allowed to touch the crown, and to maintain the security officer in the Tower of London, and you’ll follow the Queen, when she brings the royal jewels, most notably at the time of official ceremonies.
Trailer The Treasure of the Russian Tsars by Patrick Voillot
Trailer The Treasure of the Russian Tsars by Patrick Voillot, music Stefsax-Awel
Turquoise country
A few photos from my trips in Iran with music from a Czech singer Jaromír Nohavica.