Palanga Amber Museum

Palanga, Lithuania

The Palanga Amber Museum houses a collection of amber comprising about 28,000 pieces, of which about 15,000 contain inclusions of insects, spiders, or plants. About 4,500 pieces of amber are exhibited; many of these are items of artwork and jewelry. Amber workshops appeared in Palanga during the 17th century; guilds devoted to the material functioned in Brügge, Lübeck, Danzig, and Königsberg. By the end of the 18th century Palanga was the center of the Russian Empire's amber industry. In the years preceding World War I about 2,000 kilograms of raw amber were processed in Palanga annually.

The exhibition areas open to the public include 15 rooms covering about 750 square meters. A chapel connected to the palace houses temporary exhibitions. The museum is thematically divided into the scientific and cultural/artistic aspects of amber.

The museum is located to Tiškevičiai Palace, a Neo-Renaissance style palace built in 1893-1897. The palace is surrounded by a park with ponds, fountains, and collections of rare plants. The palace is surrounded by the Palanga Botanical Garden.

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Address

Vytauto gatvė 19, Palanga, Lithuania
See all sites in Palanga

Details

Founded: 1963
Category: Museums in Lithuania

More Information

en.wikipedia.org
en.wikipedia.org

Rating

4.6/5 (based on Google user reviews)

Interesting Sites Nearby


Klaipeda Castle Ruins (22,8 km)
Kretinga Museum (12 km)
Kretinga Monastery (11,8 km)
Sventoji (13,3 km)
Grobina Burial Ground (46 km)

User Reviews

Tom Z (4 months ago)
If in Lithuania, this is a Must Visit! Incredible collection of amber you will not see anywhere else. You can buy some of your own (real) amber at their gift shop
Nataliya Grydasova (8 months ago)
Lovely park around, impressive collection of amber. There are magnifying glasses to see the inclusions. Unfortunately, there weren't enough audio guides, which could make the experience even better.
Paul B (9 months ago)
Nice museum in a restored manor house that belonged to Baron Tiškevičius. Several floors of exhibition, rare amber with inclusions, a working gift shot, manicured gardens, a gift shop and very clean toilets. Well worth visiting.
BeautifulYouTVRUS (9 months ago)
Palanga Amber Museum is one of the most beautiful places I have ever visited! The museum is surrounded by a picturesque park with lots of water ponds, bridges, flower beds and a fountain. The museum itself is a great destination for a family visit! Some nice amber souvenirs can also be bought in the museum shop!
Andrew Pidduck (10 months ago)
This museum is located inside a beautiful estate. The mansion itself is a beautiful work of art. The museum does a tremendous job teaching about the creation and history of amber and its collection process. I was amazed to see the rare pieces they had on display such as a lizard inside amber and a colony of mating insects inside amber. The admission is cheap and the experience is great. I highly recommend this for a day trip.
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The Porta Nigra was built in grey sandstone between 186 and 200 AD. The original gate consisted of two four-storied towers, projecting as near semicircles on the outer side. A narrow courtyard separated the two gate openings on either side. For unknown reasons, however, the construction of the gate remained unfinished. For example, the stones at the northern (outer) side of the gate were never abraded, and the protruding stones would have made it impossible to install movable gates. Nonetheless, the gate was used for several centuries until the end of the Roman era in Trier.

In Roman times, the Porta Nigra was part of a system of four city gates, one of which stood at each side of the roughly rectangular Roman city. The Porta Nigra guarded the northern entry to the Roman city, while the Porta Alba (White Gate) was built in the east, the Porta Media (Middle Gate) in the south, and the Porta Inclyta (Famous Gate) in the west, next to the Roman bridge across the Moselle. The gates stood at the ends of the two main streets of the Roman Trier, one of which led north-south and the other east-west. Of these gates, only the Porta Nigra still exists today.

In the early Middle Ages the Roman city gates were no longer used for their original function and their stones were taken and reused for other buildings. Also iron and lead braces were broken out of the walls of the Porta Nigra for reuse. Traces of this destruction are still clearly visible on the north side of the gate.

After 1028, the Greek monk Simeon lived as a hermit in the ruins of the Porta Nigra. After his death (1035) and sanctification, the Simeonstift monastery was built next to the Porta Nigra to honor him. Saving it from further destruction, the Porta Nigra was transformed into a church: The inner court of the gate was roofed and intermediate ceilings were inserted. The two middle storeys of the former gate were converted into church naves: the upper storey being for the monks and the lower storey for the general public. The ground floor with the large gates was sealed, and a large outside staircase was constructed alongside the south side (the town side) of the gate, up to the lower storey of the church. A small staircase led further up to the upper storey. The church rooms were accessible through former windows of the western tower of the Porta Nigra that were enlarged to become entrance doors (still visible today). The top floor of the western tower was used as church tower, the eastern tower was leveled, and an apse added at its east side. An additional gate - the much smaller Simeon Gate - was built adjacent to the East side of the Porta Nigra and served as a city gate in medieval times.

In 1802 Napoleon Bonaparte dissolved the church in the Porta Nigra and the monastery beside it, along with the vast majority of Trier"s numerous churches and monasteries. On his visit to Trier in 1804, Napoleon ordered that the Porta Nigra be converted back to its Roman form. Only the apse was kept; but the eastern tower was not rebuilt to its original height. Local legend has it that Napoleon originally wanted to completely tear down the church, but locals convinced him that the church had actually been a Gaulish festival hall before being turned into a church. Another version of the story is that they told him about its Roman origins, persuading him to convert the gate back to its original form.

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