Amber Museum in the city of Kaliningrad

View of the building from the other side.

The only Amber Museum in Russia where you can admire a mysterious stone is located in Kaliningrad. Visitors will get acquainted with scientific research in 28 halls of a two-hundred-year-old three-story building.

The courtyard of the amber museum with a fountain and pool in the center.

History of Amber Museum

The establishment of the museum in Kaliningrad was due to several reasons at once. It is on the territory of this city that a rich amber deposit was discovered. Here is the only plant in Russia where work on the extraction and processing of this stone is being carried out on an industrial scale.

Also in the city there is a center for its artistic processing. Therefore, a large amount of natural petrified resin made it possible to create the Amber Museum in the city. The initiators of the opening of such a sight were the party organs of Kaliningrad.

The One Mineral Museum opened on the eve of 1980. For more than 35 years, the exposition has been viewed by almost 6 million people.

Initially, this place saw as its task the systematization of knowledge, scientific, historical, art history, about this stone. Therefore, the exhibition halls are arranged in such a way that one can see the connections of amber with various scientific fields: mineralogy, geology, geography, natural science, history.

Fragment of the lower panel of the amber room.

Museum building

The museum is located in a tower named after Field Marshal Don. He participated in the Patriotic War of 1812. This building is part of the fortress complex, which today is considered a historical monument of the 19th century.

The tower was built in 1853 in just a few months according to one of the ideas of the architect Marc Montalembert. The building, round in shape, has 3 floors, one of which is underground. The building is 12 meters high and 32 meters in diameter.

During the construction, red brick was used several times burnt. The walls were not covered with plaster due to weather conditions: frequent rains in this area would simply spoil the facade of the building, when, like red brick walls, they look solemn and beautiful. “Brick neo-Gothic” was fully embodied in the vaults of the tower and in the external architecture.

Amber Museum. The box is two-tier. 17th century Germany. — The box is two-tier. 17th century Germany.

Exposition

Today the museum contains 9044 exhibits. A significant number of them are the works of foreign masters. Products from Japan, USA, Germany, Latvia, Italy are presented here.

All exhibits are distributed in collections (number of items in brackets):

Geological samples (18);
Painting, graphics, panels (24);
Inclusions (4993);
Rare book (27);
Amber samples (626);
Archeology items (120);
Small plastic (317);
Household items (416);
Serial production (1220);
Jewelry (957);
Amber-like resins (315);
Cult objects (11).

Lizard inclusion. Amber Museum — Lizard inclusion

Publishing activities are carried out in the building. For 11 years it has published 40 books with English translation. Also, a library and a communications center are open here for general access.

There is a souvenir shop on the ground floor, where every guest can buy a commemorative stone. Every year the competition “Alatyr” (as amber was called in the old days) for the best jewelry is held here.

Excursions and master classes are held for visitors. Lecturers, researchers and contemporary artists are invited here.