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Palanga Amber Museum is a branch of the Lithuanian Art Museum in Palanga, displaying amber and its articles. It is established in the former Palanga Manor.

The museum can be found in the estate of Count Feliksas Tiškevičius. They were built in 1897 according to the project of German architect Franc Schwechten near the Baltic Sea, in Birutė Forest which was considered sacred by the locals.

 

The museum containing one of the most abundant collections of amber inclusions and pieces in the world has a total of about 30 thousand exhibits, 15 thousand of which have inclusions.

 

Palanga Count Feliksas Tiškevičius was particularly interested in amber and was a collector of amber pieces. In the first half of the 20th century, there was a number of collectors who accumulated rare examples and inclusions of amber valuable to science and art, however, up until the early sixties of the 20th century, no one was able to collect all of these valuables to a single location where they could be shown to the public and studied by scientists.

Palanga Amber Museum was founded on 3 August 1963 under the order of the Ministry of Culture of the Lithuanian SSR. The former long-time director of the Lithuanian Art Museum Pranas Gudynas began accumulating various amber pieces for the museum's exhibition. In 1963, the museum occupied only part of the premises of the Tiškevičiai Manor. At the time, the building also included an Artists' Creative House.

 

Palace spaces on the first floor of the museum fascinate its visitors with renovated historic palace interiors describing how the Tiškevičiai family once lived here. Visitors who are interested in the history of Palanga and Tiškevičiai family are presented with authentically furnished spaces: Hall, Events Hall, Red Salon, Grand Salon, Countess Parlour, Blue Salon, Parlour of the Young Count and Small Salon. This floor displays amber articles from various epochs. The display includes amber articles, tools and jewellery from the Stone Age, amber shrouds from later periods and coins of the Roman Empire which were given in exchange for amber. A large part of the collection is comprised of amber articles from the 15th–19th century.

 

An environment of aristocratic residence was recreated in these representative palace halls which display palace interior designs of nobles of the end of the 18th century – beginning of the 20th century from the collections of Tiškevičiai Manor, palaces of other Lithuanian nobles and private collections preserved by the Lithuanian Art Museum.

 

The second floor presents a unique amber exhibit which provides information on the formation of amber, amber trade routes, amber extraction and amber processing. After the renovation of 2015, archaeological exhibits were added and the collection of inclusions was also renewed. Visitors are now able to view a completely new amber morphology exhibit which describes in detail the history of amber formation, prevalence of amber around the world and morphology. The exhibit shows examples of fossil resins found in other parts of the world. A unique collection of inclusions is displayed. Information is also provided about amber articles of the 19th - 20th century, as well as the Lithuanian amber processing workshops and masters of the interwar period.

 

The Amber Museum also displays the reconstructions of lost amber articles from the Stone Age which were recreated from drawings.

The museum is surrounded by the Palanga Botanical Park which was founded at the end of the 19th century and covers an area of 100 ha. The park was designed by the French landscape architect Eduard Andre together with his son Rene and Belgian gardener Buyssen de Coulon.

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