|
One of the most common gift to be given as a present is amber. Amber, formed on the Baltic coast 50 million years ago, still radiates the sun’s warmth and the tenderness of the sea…When visiting Lithuania – the Land of Amber, where all kinds of amber, and the most exquisite amber jewelery can be found, drop in the Mizgiriai Amber Gallery-Museum in Vilnius (Sv. Mykolo str.8 and located nearby the famous Dawn Gate on Pilies str.) Here you will learn its history and will see all kinds of amber found at the Baltic seacoast.
Amber is a fossil resin much used for the manufacture of ornamental objects.
The resin contains, in addition to the beautifully preserved plant-structures, numerous remains of insects, spiders, annelids, crustaceans and other small organisms which became enveloped while the exudation was fluid. Even hair and feathers have occasionally been represented among the enclosures. Fragments of wood frequently occur, with the tissues well-preserved by impregnation with the resin; while leaves, flowers and fruits are occasionally found in marvellous perfection. Sometimes the amber retains the form of drops and stalactites, just as it exuded from the ducts and receptacles of the injured trees.
There is strong evidence for the theory that the Baltic coasts during the advanced civilization of the Nordic Bronze Age was the source of most amber in Europe, for example the amber jewelry found in graves from Mycenaean Greece has been found to originate from the Baltic Sea. Amber was mentioned by Homer, Aristotle, Plato and others. Pliny the Elder complains that a small statue of amber costs more than a healthy slave. Ancient Roman historian Cornelius Tacitus, around 98, in his Germania book talks about the local Aesti tribes as the only ones to gather amber from the Baltic Sea.
|
