Museum of Amber

Museum of Amber

The story of the Sun and the Stone.

Recommended for those who like to wear, buy, watch and gift the jewelry made of amber.

From ancient times this stone was compared with the Sun. Ancient Greeks had composed the myth about it, where the son of the Greek God of the Sun was the main character. Besides, the women of Ancient Greece used that beautiful warm-colored stone, which shown so brightly on the sun. They wore the amber jewelries with pleasure. The men didn’t squeamish the stone too. Actually they decorated their arms, but not themselves. But not only Greeks knew about the sunny stone (moreover, they bought it abroad). It was cherished by numerous nations in different times not only for its beauty but for the curative abilities. The miraculous sunny stone is still finding in nowadays and it is in Ukraine as well. Here it is mining only in one region. But the local sunny stone is special. You can see its samples and various amber wares in the Museum of Amber.

Characters:

This stone – the amber. It belongs to half-precious stones. In origin it is fossil resin of the coniferous trees.

From ancient times – it was used from the Past Stone age. During the excavations of the Neolithic settlements the archeologists often find the amber pendants, figures of animals and people, necklaces and amulets.

The myth – it is said in the myth that the amber is the tears of Phaetons’’ sisters, who were the daughters of Helios, the God of the Sun.

Women of Ancient Greece – the legendary Greek poet Homer in his “Odyssey” mentioned that beyond the gifts for Penelope, which were presented by her potential fiancés were the amber jewelries.

The men – the Heracles’ shield was decorated with the amber.

Bought it abroad – in ancient times, the Phoenicians traded this stone. They’d bought it in Scythia, where it was finding on the banks of the rivers.

Numerous nations – the amber was widely spread in ancient Egypt, Greece and Rome.

It was cherished – the small amber jewelry in ancient Rome costed more expensive than the slave. In XIII-th. century in Prussia there was a law, that all the amber had to be given to the king. Moreover, there were the special amber courts, which sentenced those, who appropriated the sunny stone.

Curative abilities – the amber was said to have supernatural abilities, like it could save people from fever or soul deseases and gifts the beauty and longevity as well. In the Rus and in the East the sunny stone was used as the jewelry for brides.

Only in one region - Rivne region is the only region in Ukraine, where the amber is mining. That’s why it is called the Amber region. Local sunny stone is special – the local amber is of high quality. Besides, the Ukrainian amber has the unique color. Among widely spread red, brown and yellow colors, in Rivne region we can find yellow-green, pale yellow and blue-yellow stones, sometimes white and black ones.

Museum of Amber – it was opened in Rivne in 2010. Here were gathered the samples of the sunny stone, processed and unprocessed, and the best decorative items.