Amber from the Depths

19 May – 27 August 2023

The exhibition Amber from the Depths, held by Palanga Amber Museum of the Lithuanian National Museum of Art in cooperation with the German Amber Museum brings together archaeological finds and historic photography to tell the story of amber harvesting in Juodkrantė and a collection of Stone Age amber artefacts discovered therein, enriched by contemporary interpretations thereof in modern jewellery pieces.  

 

The exhibition features copies of Stone Age artefacts found on the seabed of the Curonian Lagoon and the only known original item of this collection, an amber pendant. On display are also strings of raw amber of great rarity, manufactured for export by Stantien & Becker company in the late 19th century. The visitors are also presented amber jewellery pieces by twelve artists – from representative items by the reinventor of amber jewellery Feliksas  Daukantas, from the Lithuanian National Museum of Art collection, and the artwork by Andrea Wippermann and Peter Luison from the collection of the German Amber Museum, to adornments created on the occasion of the event by Eglė Čėjauskaitė-Gintalė.   

 

 

The unique tradition of amber harvesting 

 

‘This exhibition aims to bring to attention the unique tradition of amber harvesting from the seabed of the Curonian Lagoon and working with it, as well as the reflection of the tradition in contemporary art,’ says director of Palanga Amber Museum of the Lithuanian National Museum of Art, exhibition co-curator Dr Sigita Bagužaitė-Talačkienė.   

 

On the Samland peninsula, amber used to and still is harvested by digging it from dry earth layers rich in amber, or by fishing amber pieces from shallow waters washed up by the Baltic Sea. Yet during the second half of the 19th century, two pioneers of industrial amber extraction, businessmen from Memel (present day Klaipėda) Moritz Becker and Friedrich Wilhelm Stantien started mining amber from the seabed of the Curonian Lagoon. Not only floating steam dredgers were used, but also divers to extract amber. The visitors to the exhibition can see exceptionally rare strings of raw amber pieces ready for export, like the ones used by Stantien & Becker’s representations in Palanga, Kretinga and Königsberg.  

 

 

The found and lost treasure of Juodkrantė  

 

One of most significant achievements of Stantien & Becker was the finding of the treasure of Juodkrantė, collected by the Curonian Lagoon by Richard Klebs, a staff member of the company, geologist and researcher of amber and its artefacts. It has been long assumed that the entire collection, with the exception of several items safeguarded at the Geology and Minerology Institute and Museum of the Georg-August-University of Göttingen were lost during World War II. But the German Amber Museum of Ribnitz-Damgarten presents yet another extant original pendant of this collection. At the end of the war, it was transported abroad from Königsberg, managing to survive into our days and is presented at the exhibition Amber from the Depths.  

 

‘The discoveries from the generous seabed of the Curonian Lagoon are not over yet. This is witnessed by the unique Stone Age amber artefacts on display at the exhibition of Palanga Amber Museum. They were dug from the floor of the lagoon after nearly a hundred years from the time when Stantien & Becker folded their operations. Had they been found back then, they would doubtless have become part of the celebrated treasure,’ says Dr Sigita Bagužaitė-Talačkienė.   

 

 

Contemporary interpretations of the Baltic amber  

 

The exhibition features jewellery pieces from the collections of the Lithuanian National Museum of Art and the German Amber Museum as well as those privately owned by the artists. The artists find ways to express the ancient spiritual feeling about amber as well as archetypal shapes of ancient amulets and to link these qualities with contemporary life. Such are the amulets created by Feliksas Daukantas, Solveiga and Alfredas Krivičiai, contemporary interpretations of Neolithic artefacts by Jurgita Erminaitė-Šimkuvienė, amber and concrete combinations by Beata Zdanytė, as well as the pieces created for the occasion by Eglė Čėjauskaitė-Gintalė.   

 

‘The art by contemporary artists seems to be inspired by the similar feelings and intents which guided the hand of Neolith-period artists, and they are informed by awe, fascination, the desire to preserve unique shapes of an amber piece, to retain and emphasize its sacredness. Twelve artists propose different approaches to ancient amber artefacts, yet it is obvious that the luminosity and sacredness of amber reaches out to us through centuries,’ says exhibition curator Dr Jurgita Ludavičienė.   

 

Exhibition runs through 27 August 2023.  

 

Exhibition organized by: Palanga Amber Museum of the Lithuanian National Museum of Art  

Exhibition curators 

Axel Attula, Sigita Bagužaitė-Talačkienė, Jurgita Ludavičienė 

Exhibition coordinator  

Regina Makauskienė 

Exhibition architect  

Vladas Balsys 

Exhibition graphic designer 

Loreta Uzdraitė 

General partner of the exhibition 

German Amber Museum 

Exhibition partners 

Lithuanian Sea Museum, museums of Neringa  

Project funded by 

Lithuanian Council for Culture  

Sponsored by 

Amber World, Purslai, Balzac cafe, Gabija 

Information sponsors 

LRT, Mediatraffic 

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(+370 460) 30314
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