2023-12-01 15:12:00
The small town of Ribnitz-Damgarten on the Baltic Sea coast in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern is home to about 15 thousand people and Germany’s largest collection of amber – jewelry, various other products and special individual specimens that contain rare or unusual inclusions. In total, there are about 1,600 exhibits.
Basics of the German Amber Museum (German Amber Museum) in Ribnitz-Damgarten were founded in the GDR in the middle of the last century, when exhibits began to be collected here for the local history museum – in a region where the extraction and processing of this stone has a long tradition.
The German Amber Museum is located in a former monasteryPhoto: Bernd Wüstneck/dpa/picture alliance
Prussian amber collection
According to the dpa news agency, at the end of November 2023, an official ceremony of transferring a unique historical collection of more than 250 objects to the museum took place in Ribnitz-Damgarten. Until now, it belonged to the travel company TUI AG from Hannover, which received this collection as the successor to the Preussag AG concern in 2002.
Preussag AG began collecting its historical collection of products from Baltic amber back during the Weimar Republic in the 1920s, when the State Amber Manufactory was created in the then Königsberg under the leadership of this joint-stock company.
The Prussian collection includes a 16th-century amber relief depicting the Annunciation scene, a small 17th-century home altar, and a 1675 stationery box that belonged to the Great Elector Friedrich Wilhelm von Brandenburg.
Museum scientific director Axel Attula near the new exhibit – a model of the Hanseatic sailing ship “Coat of Arms of Danzig” from 1931 Photo: Bernd Wüstneck/dpa/picture alliance Amber plaque with a quote from Immanuel Kant from 1938 Photo: Bernd Wüstneck/dpa/picture alliance “Small box” and “Eagle Shield” – exhibits from the 1930sPhoto: Bernd Wüstneck/dpa/picture alliance
The collection of Prussian amber of Preussag AG was used for advertising exhibitions, and during the “Third Reich” – also for propaganda purposes. In the museum exhibition, objects created during the time of National Socialism are provided with appropriate explanations of the historical context.
Details of the transaction – who provided support
Officially, the city of Ribnitz-Damgarten acted as the buyer of the collection, part of which had already been installed in the museum for some time. The parties agreed not to disclose the amount of the transaction, but the documents show the amount of subsidies allocated from various public and private sources.
Among them are the state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern (337 thousand euros), the Cultural Foundation of the Federal States (also 337 thousand euros) and the city of Ribnitz-Damgarten (100 thousand euros). Financial support was also provided by the federal government and the East German Savings Bank Association.
See also:
#German #Amber #Museum #replenished #unique #collection