Page 33 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Estonia Latvia & Lithuania

A POR TRAIT OF EST ONIA , LA T VIA AND LITHU ANIA 31

Uses of Amber The Amber Road
In addition to its decorative value, amber An EU-funded project has
was once considered to have healing devised a modern-day Amber
powers and even today some Lithuanians Road that links a series of towns
consider it to be a cure for goitre. The along the Baltic Coast. Starting
Aztecs and Maya are known to have from Ventspils (see pp180–81),
burned amber as incense. the route takes in Palanga (see
p286), Liepāja (see pp184–5)
and Klaipėda (see pp284–5).
While some of these towns
have amber museums, Palanga
Delicately crafted also has an amber-processing
Knife decorated with amber amber jewellery workshop. Nida in Lithuania
has a museum that exhibits
amber. The route also takes in
Karklė and Pāvilosta, with
professional amber-catchers.
Juodkrantė, once the site of
major amber-mining activity,
boasts a collection of pre historic
amber artifacts. Further south
Exquisite brooch fashioned is Kaliningrad, a Russian outpost
Typical inlaid amber box in amber that is the source of the vast
majority of the world’s amber.

Ventspils •

Liepāja • LATVIA
The Amber Museum in Palanga
(see p286) features a stunning
collection of amber pieces with
prehistoric insects trapped inside, as •Šventoji
well as amber jewellery. There is also
a display presenting the natural Palanga • • Karklė
history of amber. Klaipėda •
Juodkrantė • LITHUANIA
An amber-polishing workshop, Nida •
held by experts, offers participants
the opportunity to create their own Kaliningrad RUSSIA
jewellery. Some amber museums
across the Baltic States conduct Key
these workshops. Amber Road

Amber in Folklore
A popular Lithuanian folk tale recounts the love
between the fisherman Kastytis and the goddess
Juratė, who lived in an amber palace at the bottom
of the sea. Angry that a mortal had dared to touch a
goddess, the god Perkūnas sent lightning to destroy
the palace and drown Kastytis. It is believed that pieces
of the palace have been washing up on the shore ever
since. The well-known story was first recorded in
writing by Liudvikas Adomas Jucevičius in 1842, and
the tale has even been adapted into a rock opera. Jūratė kaj Kastytis by Nijolė Ona Gaigalaitė