Šv. Mykolo st 12, Vilnius

In the museum of Art Center of Baltic Amber you can see an amber road, which is presented in an original and artistic way: drops of amber rolling down the pine; enormous creatures which walked in amber trees forest; natural amber pieces caught by Lithuanian amber fishermen in the stormy Baltic Sea; variety of amber colors and shapes.

Inclusions create special value: like through the ship porthole you view the world of flora and fauna that existed 50 million years ago and got conserved safely in amber. The most valuable exhibit is a lizard in the amber piece. There are only few such inclusions in the world.

Very important object in the museum is sanctum of the pagans. It tells us about ritual places of pagans and the rites. Amber was very important part of these rituals. It is believed that amber could pacify raging gods, make dreams and expectations come true. Even nowadays in a pagan sanctum you may throw a pinch of fragrant amber dust, to pacify yourself and the gods by prayer.

Art Center of Baltic Amber is a member of Fine Crafts Association in Vilnius. A modern studio allows observing one of the oldest crafts: processing of amber, archaic processing tools, even opportunities to make own amber amulet, which according to our ancestors, beautifies and guards us. We organise amber processing lessons for students and visitors from different towns of Lithuania and the entire world for many years.

Cultural layers of Vilnius dating back to 15th century, various archeological findings, autentic ceiling paintings can be seen.

Anybody willing to get acquainted with amber closer may have a unique chance to touch a natural amber piece, to smell it, to taste a specific amber drink made in traditional way, to walk barefoot on small amber pieces and feel particularly powerful energy, which is produced by unique amber machine. Here you receive hints on how to tell real amber from artificial.

In Art Center of Baltic Amber visitors may see expositions of Lithuanian and foreign artists works, buy certified amber jewellery. Lectures, seminars about amber, pagans, balts’ culture and Lithuanian history are regularly read here.

EDUCATIVE WORK

Craft lessons

One of the object of Art Center of Baltic Amber is to show processing of amber. We orgnanise amber processing lessons for children and adults. Excursion and amber proccesing lessons can be led in Lithuanian, English, German languages.

For further information please call: +37060789131, email: bgmc@ambergallery.lt

Lectures, seminars

In Art Center of Baltic Amber lectures, seminars about amber, pagans, balts culture are read by well know Lithuanian scientists and professors.

Archive of lectures/seminars

Lectures of 2010-2011: 

  • Doctor of biomedicine J. Skonsmanas “Cosmetics of Baltic Amber – Course of Phytotherapy Lectures and Practice”

This course is for amber cosmetics and therapy lovers.

1. This lecture is an introduction to amber powder features and its preparation for usage. It was demonstrated how to do depth-skin, tummy and back massage with pneumatic glass cups. The lecturer performed the therapy of hearing-balance with amber powder.

2. The second lecture was dedicated for amber powder and their mineral substances usage on head, neck and face (dry head skin massage and powder rubbing into biologically active hair-bulb spots or zones, neck massage). There were demonstrated appliqués of feet spikes of hypophysis, thyroid and solar plexus reflective zones. Demonstrative plants: swampy tormentil, simple clot-bur, comfrey, holly grass, chickweed.

3. Lecture “Amber with American Phytolaca in Probiotic Lymph Cleaning System”. The basic explanation was about lymph cleaning with amber, American phytolaca and milk bacteria complex. Also, there was demonstrated depth tummy massage, i.e. lymph drainage with complex amber lubricant. Lecture recipe was detoxical tummy belt-compress.

4. Lecture “Amber in Ethno Botanical Wax Castings” explained about skin and its physiological needs, biochemical and energetic wax characteristics and amber – wax phyto-oil composition principals and ways. The recipe of the evening was the recipe against face wrinkles, expositional plants – Icelandic lichen and willowherb.

5. Lecture “Amber and Wax Fire Therapy”. Programme included ancient times and modern cored wax candle technologies and authorized ethnotypical cone with amber for ears. Practice: thermoauricular therapy séance with soft ear massage by rubbing amber powder; organ termopuncture of cone with amber (solar plexus, navel, liver, pancreas etc.).

Lectures of 2010: 

  • Herbalist A. Karaliūnaitė “Amber Healing Power”

Ancient Adelė’s ointments are made of wild herbs with pure butter, pig omentum and bone fat, vegetable oil. Herbs are gathered and ointments are made according lunar calendar. Herbal extracts are prepared on mounds of Migonys and Raginėnai. Cruets for ointments are made of clay, plastic or glass. They are covered with linen cloth or lid with very small holes in it for letting them to breathe. This is pure natural material, similar to human ones, that is why there is no side-effect. The production has no unnatural odour, preservatives and colourants. They can be used for whole life or for a specific aim. Adelė’s herbal tea is made of wild plants, gathered in forests, meadows, riverside and soil. Tea is full of torn tree leaves and blossoms to keep their natural taste, smell and treating materials. Adelė also uses amber powder.

  • Ethnopsychologist, Baltic priest L. Balsys “Amulets and Amber. Baltic Symbols of Spiritual Life”

Lecturer presented the conception of amber amulets and their usage in various cultures of the world. He also spoke about modern person‘s spiritual contact with amber articles, particularly with amulets as life protection from bad spirits guarantee. What is more, there were answers for following questions: if amber itself as a material is an amulet, and what should person do if he has one.

Lectures of 2009: 

  • Dūkštų Neries Regional Park culture specialist V. Rudienė “Mythological World of Neris”

The lecture is about Karmazins’ barrow temple complex in Neries Regional Park. It shows archaic believes of ancestors, special river bank role in mythology, and also, influence to formation of cultural landscape.

  • Doctor of linguistics S. Ambrazas “Origin of Word “amber””

The lecturer explains interpretations of word “amber” origin, meanings both in our and other regions. It appears, that there are various world etymologies connected with Chuvashian, Autochtonian, Russian, German, Indo-European mother-tongue. However, looking to the further past it must be said that firstly amber famed not Lithuanians but West Balts. They probably made the word “gintaras”. The most famous Lithuanian searched this word was linguist Simas Karaliūnas.

  • Vilnius Academy of Applied Arts rector, Prof Dr. A. Butrimas “Stone Age Amber Articles”

Amber tradition became very important for Indo-European Pamarių (Žucev) culture, when in one of the lower reaches of Vysla, Žulavų region, there were found 18 thousand amber articles and fragments. This culture lasted during all Earlier Metal epoch, until Romanian desire of luxury accelerated in the 1st – 5th centuries. Amber related Baltic (Aistian) world with South Europe, and this civilized connection continued until Early Middle Ages. During the formation of national identity in the 19th-20th centuries, amber tradition became inseparable part of Baltic nations’ culture, costume, the fine arts, folklore, theatre, music and fiction.

  • Lithuanian literature and folklore institute worker D. Vaitkevičienė “World of Baltic Gods”

The lecture was about the deities in Baltic religion. What are godhead and deity? Daiva Vaitkevičienė spoke about the conception of godhead in linguistic, folkloric context, the notion of the Deity in present day culture, and the comparison of Baltic gods to Christian and Antique ones. Also, she explained such topics: is God the sky or light, canopy of heaven, God is name (like Perkūnas, Austėja, Laima); God is immaterial entity that can live in various carnal forms, and other interpretations.

  • G. Kadžytė “Christmas Eve and Christmas Traditions”

Lectures of 2008:

  • K. Mizgirytė, student of BolognaUniversity “Baltic Amber in Vilanova Culture”
  • Chemist J. Banienė “Amber and Cosmetics”

There are found more than 40 useful compounds in amber structure. The basic useful material is amber acid, which is attributed to bio-stimulants. This acid is in all vegetative and animal cells, it takes part in a very important process called metabolism. It is distinguished for protective effect, i.e. it increases cell vitality in negative conditions. It is researched that amber acid improves oxygen assimilation in cells. Could there be a better example of youth elixir?

When there are negative conditions, stress or unexpectedly changed physical strain, or the change of metabolism, the output of amber acid increases, the deficit of it and fatigue or apathy come together. Therefore, people feel bad; organism cannot resist negative change of ambience. Consequently, there appear changes of organism, its separate systems lose working balance, and that is how diseases develop.

Amber extract is rich in microelements. It stiffens skin, sustains its immunity from negative external forces. What is more, it decreases skin irritation, helps to eliminate fatigue and microbes, delaminates, whitens and moistens skin. Amber extract directly stimulates metabolism processes in head skin, also decreases loss of hair, and it is a good hair conditioner. Furthermore, hair care devices with amber acid prompt hair growth.

  • Hamburg University Geological-Palaeontological Institute Prof W. Weitschat’s seminar about Dominican amber

Dominican Republic amber is excavated in mountains and lowlands. Differently from Baltic amber, this one formed of deciduous Hymenaea tree resin. In Caribbean and South American tropics there are found 14 species of this tree. Amber excavation is a very slowly and tiring process. Diggers work with primitive tools: short-handled mattocks, spades and big knives (machetes), and they work on their knees by lightening their way. Amber is found in 100 – 1200 metres in clay in layer of marine clastic rocks, which contains lignite and charred tree-fragments. Supposedly, in Holocene period (10-11 thousand years ago) amber was washed by ancient rivers from East Cordillera to Sabana de la Mar and Bayaguana mines.

In different clusters Dominican amber varies. The oldest one is of Eocene period (45 million years old) and is found in northern part. The youngest one is of Miocene (20 million years old) and is found in eastern part. There are discovered lots of inclusions in this amber: from various plant leaves and flowers to miscellaneous fossil arthropods (arachnids, crustacean, centipedes and especially insects). There is a huge amount of tropical climate organisms in Dominican amber that are strange for Baltic amber.

Together with Baltic amber Dominican one has a great variety of colours and shades. The most extraordinary are blue (because of natural heating of lava, volcanic ashes or especially hard tectonic pressures) and purple (the reason of formation is still a question).

  • Ethnologist G. Kadžytė “Amber for Lithuanian. Then and Now”

The lecturer talked about ancient amber traditions (healing power, amulets and belief in their protection), and latest attitude to it (jewellery, souvenir for tourists).

  • Lithuanian literature and folklore institute worker D. Razauskas “Attributes of Baltic Religion and Mythology”

Historical sources and folklore, together with ethnography, archaeology, linguistics and other sciences, give data for Baltic mythology and religion research. However, all wells have one main feature – convention. According to Dainius Razauskas, the first written sources about Balts came from German monks, whose main Christian aim was to destroy and show ancient Baltic religion and mythology as fairy-tale and worthless. Inaptitude of the Lithuanian language and retellings corrupted authentic titles and names, and that is why we know such less about them nowadays. The most faithful information comes from intersection of historical sources and folklore, because, for instance, some Baltic gods are mentioned in historical sources, but not in folklore, or named differently. During the research of Baltic graves archaeologists cannot make the conclusion according valuables that a person implicitly believed in other world: it was a symbolical relation. To determine religious Baltic point of view helps onomastics, science of names and titles. Etymology shows that long time ago present day Lithuania and Latvia were one Baltic nation.

  • Astro-mineralogist A. Ilgevičienė “Amplitude of Amber Effect”

Amber use is infinite. Amber water positively treats all endocrine system. All you have to do is to put a piece of caught amber into water filter. Even ancient Lithuanians used amber smoke in spiritual rituals. It was local incense and disinfecting material. It is very hard to find such material that could be used many where: if you have a sore throat, use whitish amber beads. For those, who are very sensitive, take to heart failures, who are self-critical and do not love themselves, a good thing is to wear long amber beads that reach heart. For those, who complains about stomach ache, the best way is to keep a piece of amber in stomach place for a while.

Lectures of 2007: 

  • Prof Dr. A. Grigelis “Prussian Origin of Lithuanian Amber”

South and Middle Scandinavian hills, humid and warm climate grew gigantic “amber” pine trees (Pinus succinifera) that used to release huge amounts of resin. Eventually, fossilized resin became amber mineral. They were washed away by rivers groundwater from Eocene end Priabone basin to Baltic-ScandinavianSea basin. That is how developed the optimum for amber accumulation in Sambian peninsula, and later second provenance Palvininkai (Jantarnij).

  • A. Mikutis “Symbols of Baltic Jewellery”
  • J. Vaiškūnas “Ancient Baltic Culture and Religion: Man and Signs”
  • M. Michelbertas “Amber Roads”

Lectures of 2006: 

  • Hamburg University Geological-Palaeontological Institute Prof W. Weitschat “Fossil Resin – World Amber”

The first descriptions of the Dominican Republic amber appeared since journeys of Christopher Columbus. Dominican amber formed not from conifers but deciduous extinct prehistoric Hymenaea tree resin. In different clusters amber is of different age. The oldest one is of Eocene period (45 million years old) and is found in northern part. The youngest one is of Miocene (20 million years old) and is found in eastern part. Dominican amber is of 7 shades, and also, there is found lots of amber with inclusions from various plant leaves and flowers to miscellaneous fossil arthropods (arachnids, crustacean, centipedes and especially insects).

  • Docent A. Merkevičius “Amber Roads”

The lecture was about Baltic amber journeys and its role in European Earlier Metals period. Archaeological findings (rich graves) in whole Europe and Scandinavia show the value of Baltic amber, and adoration of this “stone of the Sun”. Later jewellery and tools evidence amber connection with metal (copper, brass), glass, and gold. Worked amber was discovered in swamps, which means that amber was saint for ancient people and served as donation for gods.

  • J. Trinkūnas “Amber and Paganism”

Amber is a sign of Baltic civilisation and culture. The deeper we look to history, the less adoration was in amber. In ancient times it had religious, magic, spiritual and world-view sense. Since Stone Age amber was related to protection, intention and request. Only many years later it gained the role of jewellery element.

  • K. Valevičienė “Amber in Medicine”
  • A. Mikutis “Clutch and Heaven”
  • Evening of poetry group “D5”
  • E. Montvilaitė “Tile Kilns of the 14th – 17th centuries”

2005 years lectures:

  • A. Bliujienė “Sanctums of Pagans”
  • G. Berensevičius “Religious Cult of Pagans”
  • W. Weitschat “Amber with Inclusions”
  • A. Daulius “Presenting Amber Electrical Machine”
  • Evening of poetry group “D5” “Inclusions of Vilnius”