Amber village, coast of the Baltic Sea, Kaliningrad region. Amber region: two excursions and one amber museum

Yantarny (until 1946 Palmniken) is an urban-type settlement with a population of about 6 thousand people. The name is associated with the Prussian word "palve" - ​​wasteland, treeless swamp.

Amber is luxurious sand beach, Amber plant, interesting history and amazing places.

History of Palmniken

The settlement is almost 700 years old, Palmniken first appears in historical documentation in 1405. famous city became thanks to the huge reserves of amber, which was mined in ancient times in adits and mines, and from 1930 to this day - in quarries. The rapid growth of the town is associated with the foundation of the amber mining enterprise "Shtantien and Becker" (1871).

Rest at the resort in Yantarny

The village of Yantarny is a resort with the widest beaches on the entire Baltic coast - up to 250 m. And the only one in Russia for 2017, marked with the Blue Flag for the best beach. The local sand is clean and pleasant, and the place is surprisingly well equipped - umbrellas, sun loungers and sports grounds. All in all, a great vacation. You can stop right among the dunes, pitching a tent, or at a hotel.

The uniqueness of the beach is in the presence of a lake, which is separated from the sea by a strip of sand of 30 meters. The lake is a flooded quarry that has turned into a beautiful lagoon.

Attractions p. Yantarny

Majority interesting places Amber is directly or indirectly associated with the "sun stone". We will try to briefly and concisely describe the most interesting objects.

Amber Combine

Amber Combine it is unique in that it is the only one in the world that extracts amber in an open way - in open pits (Balebina street, 1). In the showroom you can see unique nuggets and works of art from amber. A tour of the plant will show the way amber passes from the quarry to the finished product.

The easiest way to admire the extraction of amber is with career lookout . From here you will see all the splendor of the quarry from a height of 50 meters. To find the observation deck, you need to follow the sign "amber quarry" near the sculpture "Mermaid" (right at the entrance to the city). Here you can visit an unusual museum - an amber pyramid, become an amber miner in a mini-career and get a miner's diploma. There are other entertainments - fitting of medieval armor and a themed photo session.

Lutheran church of 1892

After amber adventures, you can afford a little spirituality - visit Lutheran church 1892 (street Sovetskaya, 67a). This neo-gothic stone and brick building is the most beautiful in the city. At one time, divine services were held here for the workers of the Shtantien and Becker company. Now there is a temple of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God.

Opposite the church is located"City of masters"- here you can always buy all kinds of amber products and even cosmetics based on it.

Maurice Becker Mansion

A beautiful white building that you must have noticed is a restored Maurice Becker's mansion (street Sovetskaya, 68). Previously, there was a hunting castle of the early 17th century, which was bought by the amber magnate. Becker demolished the old building and built a mansion with all the frills - a fountain and sculptures on the roof. The building was destroyed by time, restored and it houses the Schloss Hotel.

Maurice Becker Park

On the territory adjacent to the mansion, Becker and his descendant created a magnificent park with alleys to the sea and stairs directly to the beach. As lovers of frills, they planted here rare conifers and shrubs from America and even Japan. Now this Maurice Becker Park with unique specimens: red oak, Japanese scarlet, tulip tree, pseudo-hemlock and others. It is this colorful place that has become a favorite visit for wedding processions.

Wooden promenade of the city of Yantarny

You can walk along the central alley of the park to the wooden promenade of the city of Yantarny . The 2 km long promenade was opened in 2014. The most picturesque is its outer part, which seems to be floating on the water surface of a flooded quarry.

Exercise:go down from the promenade to the beach and find a piece of amber.

Monument to the victims of the Death March

The end of the promenade is to the amber mine "Anna" 1873 Year of the company "Stanien and Becker". This is the place where on January 31, 1945, the Nazis killed 7,000 concentration camp prisoners. In 2011, in memory of this event, memorial to the victims of the Death March F. Meisler and A. Ovadia.

Museum and Exhibition Complex "Amber Castle"

Returning along the promenade to Sovetskaya Street 61a, we will visitMuseum and exhibition complex "Amber Castle".It is located in a building that previously belonged to the Palmniken fortress. Here you will learn about the history of the sun stone and the amber trade, and you can also visit the amber pyramid.

There are not many attractions in Yantarny, but each of them is special, unusual and has its own history. A walk around the city is remembered by tourists for a long time.

Hotels in Yantarny

The best options for where to live in Yantarny are the Becker and Schloss hotels.

More about these hotels:

You can stay cheaper and in a private fund. See houses and apartments on the AirBnB global rental service at this link. Plus, we will have a bonus of 1500 rubles when booking, more details at the Airbnb link above. Go to the Airbnb website, search for Amber or other resort town, travel dates and see the options on the map, according to descriptions, photos and reviews.

How do we save up to 25% on hotels?

Bonus for renting apartments 2100 rubles

Amber, (former Palmniken, German. palmnicken) is a small cozy urban-type settlement in the north-west of the Kaliningrad region. The settlement on the coast of the Baltic Sea, although many call it nothing more than a city, is known throughout the world for its deposit and industrial production of the sun stone - amber.

Yantarny today is one of the most comfortable and beautiful settlements in the region. Clean green streets, cozy residential houses, respectable hotels, a wide sandy beach, a cool old park and, of course, amber!

Among the main attractions of Yantarny, one can single out the only amber plant in the world that extracts and processes amber. The plant has unique museum, which I will talk about in more detail in the future. Excursions are also conducted directly to the quarry where the stone is mined.

Still available in Yantarny picturesque lake, a beautiful water tower, the museum complex "Amber Castle" and the sad ruins of the Anna mine (1873), near which on January 31, 1945, on the Baltic Sea, about 3 thousand people were shot - prisoners of concentration camps in East Prussia. Not so long ago, a monument was erected here, in memory of this event.

Today I will show you only a small piece of Amber... I will tell you about the ancient temple in honor of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God, and then we will go through the park and go down to the beach to the sea.

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The Evangelical Church was founded on September 8, 1887 (consecrated on January 3, 1892), at the expense of the Shtantien and Becker company, owned by entrepreneurs Maurice Becker and Wilhelm Shtantien, the owners of the Palmniken estate, as well as mines and an amber mine. During the construction of the church, which is a small copy of the St. George's Chapel in the garden of the royal castle of Montbignon on the outskirts of Berlin, large boulders and shaped bricks were used. The architect was V.L. Bessel-Lorca.

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The church had a traditional organ, colorful stained-glass windows and two inscribed bells from Shtantien and Becker. The interior decoration was made in the Romanesque style.

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During the war, the church survived and turned, first, into a Soviet club and a gym, and then into a warehouse, gradually falling into decay ...

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Attention to the church was paid only in 1990 and transferred to the Russian Orthodox Church. And already on January 13, 1991, the church in the name of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God was consecrated by Metropolitan Kirill of Smolensk and Kaliningrad.

Today, the church does not have colorful stained-glass windows, but, in general, historical appearance very well preserved.

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On the facade there are signs in Russian and German, which differ greatly in content. If the German plate shows the real historical dates construction and consecration of the church, then only 1991 is indicated in Russian ...

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According to Matushka Olga, the wife of the rector of the church, Father Viktor Kurkin, all the interior decoration of the church was purchased at the expense of the parishioners.

By Decree of the Government of the Kaliningrad Region dated March 23, 2007 No. 132, the church received the status of an object cultural heritage regional significance.

08. The church house near the temple has a German foundation.

09. The village has a well-developed information and tourist infrastructure. There are signs, maps, etc. helpful information for tourists.

10. Square of masters, souvenir and amber shops.

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12. Across the road from the temple is a respectable "Schloss-hotel", consisting of two buildings. The hotel building has been restored from old pre-war photographs with great accuracy.

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14. From the hotel, through the old Becker Park, a well-groomed path goes to the sea

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16. You can go down to the beach by a wide wooden staircase

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21. The beach in Yantarny is one of the widest and cleanest on the coast of the Kaliningrad region

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24. Depending on the weather, the Baltic Sea can change light from dark blue to greenish and even lead gray

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IN Lately Amber is increasingly becoming the center of all kinds of major festivals, exhibitions and other cultural events. Among the most famous festivals is, of course, the annual international festival spiritual, moral and national patriotic song "Peter and Paul Meetings in Yantarny" (this year it was held for the 9th time), as well as the international music Festival electronic music" Amber Beach".

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On August 24, the after-party of the short film festival "KOROCHE" was held here, which was attended by many eminent Russian actors and producers. I posted a photo report from this event a little earlier.

Sports were not left out. Every summer, qualifying rounds for the Russian Championship and international tournaments in beach football, beach volleyball, rugby, swimming competitions - "Amber Mile" and others are held in Yantarny.

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Actually west coast Russia, or rather the Kaliningrad region, is small in size, but absolutely a unique village beautiful name Amber. Its uniqueness lies in the fact that it is here, and practically only here, that amber, amazing in its beauty and properties, is mined. It is in this village that the only amber plant in the world is located, which extracts and processes amber.

Now Amber (Prussian Palweniken, Palmenicken (1491), German Palmnicken, Lit. Palvininkai, Polish Palmniki)- an urban-type settlement on the coast of the Baltic Sea, administrative center Yantarny urban district of the Kaliningrad region Russian Federation.
As a settlement, Palmniken was founded in 1654. At that time this part Baltic coast was an unattractive desert, swampy area. This is reflected in the very name of the settlement: its indigenous part can be translated as “empty lands”. But, by an inexplicable whim of nature, only in this place sea ​​waves especially generously thrown onto the sandy shore amazing beauty pieces of solar stone - amber. Exactly mining of amber and became the reason for the founding of the settlement of Palmniken and the basis of its economic growth and development.

A little later, to the north of Palmniken, another small Krakstepellen settlement(German Kraxtepellen). But as an independent settlement, Krakstepellen did not last long, and soon merged into Palmniken.

Despite the fact that amber deposits are spread all over the world in small volumes, the largest and oldest region for the extraction of fossil resin is the coast of the Baltic Sea. Baltic amber has been found in Egyptian tombs that date back to 3200 BC. According to rough estimates, about 40 tons of amber are carried to the shores of the Baltic by a stormy sea per year. In 1878, near the village of Yantarny, a storm washed up on the shore so much amber that the locals collected it for several days. According to various estimates, from 80 to 90% of the world's fossil resin reserves are concentrated in the vicinity of Yantarny. This unique deposit is the largest not only in terms of reserves (according to a rough estimate - 640 thousand tons), but also in terms of concentration (about 2 kg per cubic meter of rock).
Thus, The history and development of Amber is inextricably linked with the history and development of amber mining.

Initially, amber was collected by hand: after a storm, they collected it along the coast, caught it in the waves with special nets. In calm weather, amber hunters went out to sea in boats, looking for stones at the bottom of the sea. This went on for quite a long time, until one very enterprising gentleman, Maurice Becker, became interested in these places, who saw the grandiose prospects for organizing the industrial extraction of amber. In 1870, Maurice Becker, with his partner Wilhelm Stantien, bought vast territories in the vicinity of Palmniken, and founded the amber mining company Shtantien and Becker. To begin with, Becker completely destroyed the old medieval castle of Palmniken and built a modern mansion in its place. Around the house, on the site of an old garden, an impressive park was laid out in 1881, with total area more than twelve hectares, in which, in addition to the existing ones, many rare, and sometimes simply unique species of trees and plants were planted. Later, the son of Maurice Bakker expanded the park's collection by bringing rare trees from Japan and America. Amazing in its beauty, the North American Tulip tree has become a symbol of the park over time. Perfectly preserved to this day, Becker Park has become a real attraction of the Yantarny and is currently a favorite vacation spot for both its guests, so local residents. From the park you can go down directly to the sea along a convenient promenade. July 21, 2007 in the park named after Maurice Becker in Yantarny, a memorial stone was installed on which a metal plate was fixed with the inscription:

“1881 The park was founded by Maurice Becker.
1985 The park was declared a natural monument.
2007 The park was named after Maurice Becker.”

On September 8, 1887, opposite the estate, on the initiative of Becker and with the financing of the company "Stantien and Becker", founded Lutheran church(consecrated January 3, 1892). The project of the church was developed by the architect V.L. Bessel-Lork. The church was a small copy of the St. George Chapel in the garden of the royal castle of Montbignon on the outskirts of Berlin. Boulders and figured bricks were used for its construction. The church was famous for its colorful stained-glass windows on the themes of local subjects, an organ, and had two personalized bells from Shtantien and Becker. During the Second World War, the church survived, but in Soviet times it was used as a club and a gym, and then even as a warehouse, and gradually fell into disrepair. In 1990, among other objects religious significance, the church was transferred to the Russian Orthodox Church. The building of the church was reconstructed and on January 13, 1991, Metropolitan Kirill of Smolensk and Kaliningrad consecrated it as a temple in the name of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God. And although the former church has lost its colorful stained-glass windows, but, in general, its historical appearance is very well preserved.
As a result of the stormy activity deployed by Becker, 10 years later Palmniken (Amber) is becoming a very lively place with a developed industrial infrastructure. A railway from Fischhausen is being built to the village.

Practically monopoly mining of amber, established on an industrial scale, brings huge profits. The most modern amber mines at that time operate here. One of the most impressive mines was even given a name - "Anna".

However, after reaching its peak of more than 400 tons per year, by the end of the nineteenth century, the extraction of amber by the mine method began to dramatically reduce its volumes. Becker, anticipating a sharp drop in profitability, sells the amber deposit back to the state. Indeed, over the next ten years, all amber mines were closed. But the extraction of amber itself continued, already by the open method. To manage the production of the amber industry in Koenigsberg, the “Royal Amber Enterprise” (Koeniglichen Bernsteinwerke) was founded, and the Royal Mining Inspectorate was established in Palmniken (Yantarny), and money continued to flow into the state treasury. During the years 1905-1913, the Treasury received more than a million marks a year from the extraction of amber in the Palmniken (Yantarny) region.

Manor Becker later also became the property of the state and was equipped as a hotel. The mansion already then got its name “Schloss” - a hotel, which translates as “Hotel in the castle”. The estate has been perfectly preserved to this day, although it has been repeatedly reconstructed. But, especially when repairing the facade, they tried to maintain maximum historical accuracy, referring to the surviving pre-war photographs, and the estate is undoubtedly an interesting attraction of Yantarny. Now the estate also houses a hotel under the same name. Now it is an elite hotel that meets all modern requirements.

At the end of World War II, Soviet troops completely occupied Palmniken and its environs on April 15, 1945. In 1946, Palmniken was renamed Yantarny.

During the war, Yantarny was practically not damaged, and has retained its historical appearance to this day. The modern construction was carried out in a separate new microdistrict, so now, walking along the old streets, you can completely immerse yourself in the architectural environment of the early twentieth century and admire the picturesque pre-war buildings, covered with red tiles and immersed in greenery. In the center of Yantarny there are many small shops selling amber products. There are even several open amber workshops where you can go in, chat, see how the craftsmen work, buy the product you like right from the first hand. If you want to buy amber products at reasonable prices, then you are here.

But the war still left its sad mark on the history of Amber. January 31 - February 1, 1945, presumably in the area of ​​​​the abandoned mine Anna ( exact location unknown), the Nazis shot from 2 to 3 thousand people. These were the prisoners concentration camps East Prussia, distilled by a foot column. Initially, there were more than 6,000 people in the column, of which more than 3,000 people died during the journey from exhaustion or as a result of executions. The survivors upon arrival in Palmniken were placed in the building of the locksmith shop of the Amber Combine, and after a few days they began to be taken to the coast in small groups and shot. In memory of this event, on January 30, 2011, on the outskirts of Yantarny near the Anna mine, a Monument to the victims of the "Death March" the work of sculptors Frank Meisler and Arieh Ovadia. The monument is a seven-meter hand raised to the sky carved from granite with the numbers of prisoners of the concentration camp. To the north of the monument there is a pyramid of field stones, on the edge of which there is a memorial plaque with the inscription: "In memory of 7,000 victims of the Holocaust killed by the Nazis on January 31, 1945."

Amber fishing during the Second World War was suspended. But with the onset of a peaceful period, the new authorities began to try to restore the powerful volumes of local amber mining. Since 1948, the Amber Combine has resumed its work. The work was difficult: there were no appropriately qualified personnel, part of the equipment was lost during the war. At first, captured German specialists were attracted to work. But, gradually, the activity of the Amber Combine was fully restored, and gradually increasing the capacity to reach more than six hundred tons of amber per year. Along with mining, local production was also established for processing amber and creating jewelry on its basis. The amber brooch designed at that time in the form of a spider is still in demand.

The period of the late 90s - early 2000s was very difficult for both the amber plant and the village of Yantarny, as well as for the whole country as a whole. Even the railway communication to Yantarny ceased to function. But, despite all the problems and difficulties, the village of Yantarny survived, returned economic and cultural life to its streets, and is currently at the top of the list of attractions in the Kaliningrad region.

Kaliningrad Amber Plant now not only a successfully operating enterprise, but also a bright landmark of the village of Yantarny, the most popular tourist attraction, which in 2015 was included in the list of must-see places for travelers in Russia. Excursions at the Kaliningrad Amber Factory are held all year round. Excursion program The plant introduces visitors to the processes of extraction and processing of amber, and includes two tourist site– a showroom (museum) and an observation deck overlooking the quarry, where you can see with your own eyes the industrial production of amber. In the museum, you can independently assemble a simple amber jewelry, for which you will receive a corresponding certificate. From the observation deck of the Amber Combine, a view of the the largest seaside quarry in the world, where amber has been mined for over a century. Here you can try on medieval outfits and plunge into the past, as well as delve into the “sandbox” specially organized for tourists and find your piece of amber in the “blue earth”. The Amber Pyramid is also located here - a unique structure, the construction of which took 800 kg of amber chips, which has extensive healing properties.

At the entrance to Yantarny, arrivals are met by a powerful sculptural composition"Mermaid", decorated with mosaics.

In the center of Yantarny (street Sovetskaya, 61a), there is another interesting attraction - Museum "Amber Castle" According to some reports, the museum building was built in the 14th century and earlier it was part of the Palmniken fortress, which served to protect the coast and amber mines. To date, the building has been seriously reconstructed several times. The museum has a collection of German household items: here you can admire intricate dishes from various historical periods, antique furniture, and weapons. Various expositions dedicated to the pre-war history of Palmniken, the Second World War are widely represented. A large part of the exhibition diversity is represented by the Soviet era. There are also basements in the museum, in which there are real torture chambers and cells for prisoners of great age. The museum also hosts exhibitions by local artists, and the Superstition Museum is located on the second floor. This is a collection of carved wood figurines of brownies, water goblins and other mythical characters with a brief description of who they are and how they help or harm people. The museum also has a hall dedicated to amber, and most of the exposition introduces the use of amber in medicine and cosmetology.
Numerous tinctures, powders, oils and ointments based on amber derivatives are presented here, which you can not only see, but also buy, and get advice on medicinal properties preparations on amber. Here you can buy unique souvenirs in the form of a small bottle of amber-infused vodka or amber-based skin cream.

One more Yantarny's attraction is its water tower(Zheleznodorozhnaya street, 5b), built in 1920 and still in operation. The height of the tower is 35 m, the diameter is 11 m. In 2006-2007, the facade and roof were repaired water tower, installed weather vane in the form of a unicorn.

The main attraction of Yantarny, for which it is famous no less than for its amber craft, is its delightful, widest sandy sea beach in the Kaliningrad region, surrounded by boundless thickets of wild rose hips and sea buckthorn. The natural beauty of this place is completed by a large picturesque lake (a favorite vacation spot for divers), formed on the site of a former amber quarry. Moreover, thanks to the efforts of local residents and authorities, Yantarny beach has been considered the cleanest in the Kaliningrad region for many years. At the end of August 2014, the beach was landscaped with a modern promenade, which is a wooden walkway made of durable Siberian larch with viewing platforms, laid along sea ​​coast from the descent to the sea in Becker Park to the platform near the Galera cafe. Its length is 1980 meters, of which 700 pass over the lake.

A small summer stadium is equipped on Yantarny Beach, and each summer season Yantarny hosts qualifying rounds for the Russian Championship and international tournaments in beach football, beach volleyball, rugby and Swimming competitions on Lake Yantarny - "Amber Mile". Every year, starting from 2009, Yantarny hosts the semi-finals of the World Amber Fishing Championship (the final takes place on the Polish part of the Baltic Spit).
Amber is also very popular among diving enthusiasts. On the shore of the amber quarry "Walter" in the village of Yantarny there is a diving club "Poseidon 39". The club is equipped with all the necessary modern equipment, and experienced instructors ensure the safety of divers. The diving program depends on the level of training and the wishes of the clients.

Recently, Yantarny has increasingly become the center of all kinds of major festivals, exhibitions and other cultural events. Among the most famous festivals are the annual international festival of spiritual and folk-patriotic songs "Peter and Paul Meetings in Yantarny", and the international music festival of electronic music "Amber Beach".

Kircha Palmniken (Amber)	Kircha Palmniken (Amber)
Museum "Amber Castle"	fireplace in the Amber Castle Museum

mumbling at work	in the main hall of the museum	stairs to the amber workshops

vintage chandelier	Hall of the Knights of the Order
viking weapons	bricks of the order castles of East Prussia

The last day of our short trip made it possible to visually feel how changeable the weather is in the Baltic. The rain that fell at night ended in the morning, but the sky was in clouds. Having breakfast at the Croissant cafe, we watched the city residents rush to work, many put on light jackets, it was cloudy and not at all hot.

Today we had to "take" another "height" -.

The village of Yantarny in the Kaliningrad region is located on the coast of the Baltic Sea. The population of Yantarny is 5.5 thousand people. The distance from to the village of Yantarny is 50 km. We drove along the so-called old roads. We drove through different villages and settlements, managed to see a bit of the life of "non-urban" residents of the Kaliningrad region. This road from Kaliningrad is quite busy, with good coverage, but narrow and winding. We begin to meet the famous roads with rows of trees standing on the sides - "", in dry and sunny weather, the road along them looks very picturesque. At the entrance to the village meets a mermaid:

Rest in the village of Yantarny, Kaliningrad region

In Yantarny for tourists there are several hotels and a bunch of accommodation offers in apartments. In the short Baltic season, almost everything is booked. Locals say that Yantarny village is not oversaturated with tourists. We were only one day, and even then - all day on the beach, but the village (in its coastal part) seemed to me quiet, not noisy.

Becker Park in Yantarny

Here, on an elevated terrace by the sea, is the Moritz Becker Park. Becker is a German, owner of amber quarries. By his will, on the site of the old garden in 1881, a park was laid out with lindens, maples, oaks, chestnuts and rare plants brought specially from Japan and America. On the territory of the park (13 hectares) residents and guests of Yantarny walk. Becker himself was one of the owners of the Shtantin and Becker company, which developed a quarry method for extracting amber back in the 19th century. By the way, the name of the park in honor of its founder was given only in 2007, that is, in recent history Russia.

Festival "Amber Beach"

Yantarny organizes various bright events every summer. For example, a couple of days ago (we were in Poland at that time) there was an electronic music festival "Amber Beach". Concert pavilions, large screens, campsites, food courts are organized on a special territory. Musicians from Poland, Russia, Lithuania, Iceland, etc. performed there. Later we talked with the bartender on, he told how everything went - there were a lot of people, there was also a lot of good music. This year, on the last day (the festival runs for three days) in the evening went heavy rain, but none of the spectators was "washed away". It's all over in the morning.

Amber plant Kaliningrad region

In the Village there is an Amber Combine - an enterprise for the extraction and processing of amber. The Palmniken settlement on the site of today's Yantarny settlement arose in the 17th century, and the first inhabitants, in addition to traditional fishing, were engaged in the extraction of amber. And the settlement received development at the end of the 19th century, when railway from the German Fishhouse (modern Primorsk Russia), along which the mined amber was taken for processing to other parts of Prussia.

Amber in the Baltic pursues at every turn, and in the Baltic part of Poland, and in Lithuania, and, of course, in the Kaliningrad region.

The enterprise for the industrial extraction of amber was founded in 1947 on the basis of the former Königsber amber manufactory. On the basis of the German manufactory in Palmnikin, two stone mines were opened - "Henrietta" and "Anna". The Anna mine is also infamous for the fact that Jews who were driven here in 1945 from concentration camps in East Prussia were shot near it. In memory of this event, a monument to the victims of the Holocaust was erected in Yantarny. The Nazis flooded the quarries in Palmniken at the end of the war. The Soviet government already in 1947 took measures to restore mining, and in 1948 the first hundred tons of amber were mined! In the 90s, the amber plant changed the status of the enterprise several times, acquired debts. But it seems that the bad times are over, and now the Amber Plant is working stably, with a profit. Now there is a special hall-museum with historical data on the extraction of amber, excursions are held, there are special excursion to the quarry, where you can watch the extraction of amber. And in October 2016, Svetlogorsk will host the first Economic Forum amber industry of the Russian Federation, it is organized by the Amber Combine.

What is amber, how is it formed?

I read a lot about this stone and so I realized that there is no consensus on how amber was formed. There are many myths and legends about this. More Egyptian pharaohs and the priests carried pieces of yellow stone for decoration or for something else. There is a certain scientific version, which is considered official.

About 50 million years ago there was dry land in some part of the Baltic Sea. Pine trees grew there, which, unlike modern ones, were more resinous. Pine trees, under the influence of special physiological and various other physico-chemical processes, released resin (gum), which flowed from the trunk and formed literally clusters on the trees. Under the influence of the wind, the trees bent and broke, the resin flowed to the ground. Or birds, in search of insects, hollowed out the bark of trees, leaving holes through which the resin flowed out. One way or another, pieces of resin fell to the ground, oxidized and crusted. Then there was climate change, global warming, the convergence of huge glaciers. As a result, part of the land with pieces of amber became the sea.

There are deposits of stone in Poland, Belarus, Ukraine, Mexico, Azerbaijan, Romania, Sakhalin (!), in Japan, in the Dominican Republic. And in the area of ​​​​the village of Yantarny in the Kaliningrad region in Russia, it turns out that there is one of the largest places where amber occurs. 90% of the world's amber reserves are mined on its territory, you think about it - 90%! Stone deposits (layers) are located at a depth of fifty meters, the main part of this layer is in the sea, but part is on land, on the coast. It is possible to get amber before and now in Yantarny, just walking along the coast and picking up pebbles.

Amber mining methods

There were several ways of extracting amber: from simply "catching" pieces with a net from a boat from the depths of the sea to the construction of such peculiar amber mines or pits. Since the middle of the 20th century, amber mining has become more technologically advanced. Amber is found in nature in various forms and types. In Kaliningrad in the Amber Museum there is a specimen weighing more than 4 kg, and in London, in the Museum of Natural History there is a "pebble" weighing more than 15 kg. By the way, in July 2016, a piece of amber weighing about 2.5 kg was found in the Kaliningrad region, which has not happened in recent years. And the most expensive specimens are inclusions: in the stone there are insects or small animals frozen thousands (or maybe millions) years ago. Presumably, insects or animals literally stuck to the pieces of resin and stayed there forever. The cost of such a piece with a frozen lizard, for example, reaches several tens of thousands of dollars.

The deposit in Yantarny is unique in that raw materials are mined here in the marine and coastal-marine parts, and here, in the village, it is processed at the Yantarny plant. In addition, it is curious that amber is washed ashore by storms on its own: about two tons were carried out near the village of Yantarny at the end of the 19th century, and in Solnechnogorsk in 1914, after a storm, about a ton of amber was found on the shore. Statistics show that in the Kaliningrad region about 40 tons of amber is taken out of the sea per year. But, of course, the main part is mined in an industrial highly mechanized way.