Kaliningrad region concentrates up to 90% of the World Amber supplies. Amber that was used for the legendary Amber room of Catherine II is the most-often met word connected with this area and a must-buy item for every tourist to bring home from Kaliningrad.
Here you can read about 5 Interesting Facts connected with Amber:
1. In ancient times Amber was valuated more than gold due to its magic properties and took the first place among all semiprecious stones.
2. There was a free Amber collecting on the shores of the Baltic Sea, on the beaches and shoals until the 13th century when Teutonic Order declared the amber deposits its property. Those who dared to break the monopoly were severely punished by the decision of specialized ‘amber courts‘.
3. In the 16th century besides hand collection, a new method of obtaining Amber became common on the beaches called catching: cachers, armed with large nets on poles from 4 to 12 m long, treaded water or went to the sea in boats and caught seaweed with amber stuck in it.
4. The existence of the present day amber industry in East Prussia dates back to the 1860-s when private amber-mining company “Stantien & Becker” was opened. In 1873 first open pit amber in the world called “Genrietta” was opened by this company. A whole army of miners was working, among whom were Russians who used to come to East Prussia in search for a job.
5. The biggest Amber piece is 47 cm long and 9.8 kg weight. It is in Berlin Natural Science Museum. The biggest piece of Amber in Kaliningrad Amber Museum weighs 4 kg.
If you’re interested in Amber, here are a few places in Kaliningrad region that you can visit and find out more about this “sunny stone”:
Amber Museum in Kaliningrad located at Marshala Vasilevskogo Sq. 1
Amber Castle Museum in Yantarny located at Sovetskaya str. 61a + Amber Factory (at Balebina str. 1) with observation site and Amber pyramide made of 800 kg of amber!
If you have already been to any of these ‘Amber’ places, share with us your opinions
by adding your comments below!
Written by Olga
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