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Crane Used To Maneuver 6-Ton Chinese Boulder Into Texas Museum

SAN ANTONIO (CBSDFW.COM/AP) — A museum in South Texas has welcomed a big boulder.

A crane was used to maneuver the more than 6-ton rock donated to the San Antonio Museum of Art from a sister city in China.

The San Antonio Express-News reports the limestone rock, which was unloaded Friday, is a gift from Wuxi in honor of San Antonio's Tricentennial.

The donation joins the San Antonio Museum of Art's collection of scholars' rocks and will be installed on campus in November.

Shawn Yuan, assistant curator of Asian art at the museum, says scholars' rocks have long been prized by elite members of Chinese society. Small ones are placed on tables as sources of inspiration representing nature. Larger pieces, like the new arrival, are typically displayed near water in gardens.

It may not weigh 6-tons, but the 5-foot-tall grape jelly amethyst geode on display at the Perot Museum of Nature and Science in Dallas is quite the crowd pleaser. It was the first exhibit installed at the museum.

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