Posted by Cathy Maree on Nov 5, 2019

The Koh-i-Noor Diamond (the Mountain of Light) is the most infamous diamond in the world. Discovered in India in the mists of antiquity, it passed at some stage into the possession of the Mogul Emperors in Delhi when it was part of the famous Peacock Throne of Shah Jehan, the builder of the Taj Mahal.  Then looted by the Persians in 1739, it made its way via Afghanistan in the early 19th century into the possession of the Sikh Maharajah Ranjit Singh and it was his 10-year-old son, following the conquest of the Sikh Empire by the East India Company in 1849, who gave the stone to the British.  
The lecture will trace the history of the stone and tell the story of how it then eventually came to be now a prominent feature of the Queen Mother’s crown in the Tower of London.  It rests there peacefully for the moment but wherever the stone has gone it has provoked greed and envy, dissension and division, wars and disasters. Where will it go next?   DARTS’ speaker today is Edward Saunders, well known internationally for his lectures in history of art and architecture and always a welcome lecturer at DARTS and annually at the UCT Summer School.

• Event Start Date: 2019-11-11
• End Date: 2019-11-11
• Address: Ditsong Military History Museum Auditorium, Erlswold Way, Saxonwold
• Contact Name: Jill Snaddon
• Contact Number: 828596396
• Contact Email: jill.snaddon@gmail.com