Kaliningrad - Amber Museum

Route: Gdansk - Kaliningrad - Amber Museum - Gdansk
Duration: 10 h
During our tour we will visit to the Kaliningrad which is a very special city. The city was founded as a fortress in 1255 by Teutonic Order in Prussian territory and was named Konigsberg, which means “Royal hill” (German). After the World War II had ended Konigsberg was annexed by USSR in 1946 and got its present name. Kaliningrad became significant industrial and commercial Soviet center. Kaliningrad combines harmonically traditions and features of both cultures: Russian and European. Despite of fact that city was in ruins after the war, locals saved surviving architectural monuments carefully. They honor rich history of their hometown.  I. Kant, E.T. Hoffmann, F. Bessel were born and worked here. Also it is one of the most green city in Europe, there are plenty of old beautiful parks. Kaliningrad area is famous for amber extraction, here lies 90% of world stock. During our visit you will see the  Gothic-style Cathedral, Kant’s Island, Kant’s tomb,  fish village area with Pregola river’s view, the Brandenburg Gate with marzipan museum,  the Christ the Saviour Cathedral, Peter and Fevronia Church in the heart of the city – Victory Square, Magnificent Upper Lake Area with Dona Tower which hosts the Amber Museum, the Rossgarten, King’s and Friedland Gate,  House of Soviets Area and King’s Castle excavation site. Next we will visit the Amber Museum. This art depository was inaugurated in 1979, to become Russia’s first and only Amber Museum. Located in the center of Kaliningrad on the Verkhneye Lake shore, it is housed in a fortress tower dating from the mid-nineteenth century. The tower was named after the Prussian General-Field Marshal Friedrich Karl Dohna, who had participated in the liberation war against Napoleon’s invasion. The building is also a monument of the Second World War. The Amber Museum is a one-mineral treasury. Thematically, it consists of two sections: one is devoted to science – natural history and geology and the other – to history and culture. In the scientific part of the exposition amber samples of different weight, colour, clarity are presented. In exposition are the biggest “sunstone” in Russia weighing 4.28 kilograms. The considerable part of the collection includes amber specimens with inclusions of animals and plant remains that were stuck in liquid viscous resin about millions years ago. The section of culture and history presents amber adornments and household items from the Neolithic age (4000 – 2000 BC.) till nowadays. In museum there are artifacts found on Kaliningrad region territory while digging the monument of II-V centuries of AD that was the time of intensive trade contacts toward Rome Empire. Lost amber items of XVI century are presented by scientific reconstructions made by Kaliningrad masters and specialists of restoration workshop of Tsarskoye Selo. Of great value are the unique art works of masters of 17th century that were donated to the Museum by the Armoury of the Moscow Kremlin in 1978. They are also completed by the present-day copies of old amber masterpieces, re-created fragments of the famous Amber Room lost during the Second World War and some authentic items from the 19th – early 20th centuries made by Russian and European masters. After free time we return to Gdansk.
Price: per person