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BOHEMIAN GARNET (or pyrope) – is a transparent to translucent mineral, a small precious stone (from 0.2 to 0.8 cm in size), fiery or blood-red in colour (coloured with iron with a chromium admixture). Its name derived from the Greek Pyropos, pyr = fire, ops = eye, from the Latin Carbunculus = cinder, granatus = graniform, English Bohemian garnet, German bohmisches Granat, zrnakoč in old Bohemian, according to Klaret. It has a hardness number of 6.5 to 7.5. It boasts exceptional colour stability, and is resistant to heat and acids.
 The Bohemian pyrope has been haphazardly collected from river silts since ancient times. The organised collection of garnet with export to Europe began in the early middle ages, at the time of the great migration of nations from the 6th to 8th centuries. In the middle ages the popularity of Bohemian garnet wanes. A few rare goldsmith relics have been preserved from the second half of the 14th century (reliquary from Prague Cathedral). It was not until the late 15th century that garnets began to be seen more often as decorations on liturgical silver, particularly chalices. The peak period came under the reign of Emperor Rudolf II (ruled 1576 – 1610), who supported cutters and introduced the right of first refusal on garnets of exceptional size. In 1679 Bohuslav Balbín gave the pyrope the name Bohemian garnet. After 1700 Bohemian garnets became more widespread in jewellery generally. Small stones came into fashion in the 2nd quarter of the 18th century and so the Empress Marie Terezie issued a ban on the export of Bohemian garnets from the country, thus protecting the domestic monopoly on the mining and working of garnet. Stone-cutting shops opened in Podsedice, Dlažkovice, in Světlá nad Sázavou, Třebenice, Horní Třebívlice and in Skalka. The Czech national renaissance established the Bohemian garnet as the mineralogical symbol of Bohemia. It became an attribute of Czech patriots (portraits of the wife of Václav Hank, the daughter of František Palacký, Božena Němcová, etc.). To help date garnet jewels from the 2nd third to the end of the 19th century there are two garnet setting techniques: grain and rivet (jewellery techniques). In the 19th century Bohemian garnet-makers hosted successful displays at industrial exhibitions. Thanks to the success of the craftsmen at the World Exhibition in Brussels in 1958, Bohemian garnet again became part of contemporary artwork, and in recent times due to the jewellery-makers’ symposiums in Turnov.
The largest collections of historic work with Bohemian garnet are owned by the National Museum, the smaller Museum of Art and Industry in Prague and the Moravian Gallery in Brno. There are also custom-designed collections in the Vocational Jewellery College in Turnov (student work) and in the local Museum of the Bohemian Paradise.
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