All the secrets of the sun stone: who learned all the secrets of amber? History of the Amber Room

And now it’s time to talk about the mysterious, bewitching amber. This honey-colored stone seems to carry with it the warmth of the sun's rays, which are noticeable when touching amber; it is not without reason that it is called a warm stone.

The resin of centuries, the sun's stone, a clot of frozen sun, the tears of the daughters of the Sun, tears that are given the enviable share of comforting and delighting people are called amber. Yes, it does not have the sparkle of diamonds or the mystery of emerald, but since ancient times people have valued it for its naturalness and simplicity.

Amber has many names. The Persians called it kahraba - straw stealer, the Germans Bernstein - combustible stone, the Russians - sea incense, the Greeks - electron, the Lithuanians - gintaras.

All these names are justified and explained by the amazing properties of the stone. If you rub it on wool and bring it to straw or paper, it will attract them. Amber burns well, emitting a resinous smell of pine needles. It is almost indestructible external factors, so millions of years leave almost no traces on it. Amber does not dissolve in water.

Amber is a mixture of organic compounds. Its specific gravity is not the same. White, opaque amber floats well on the surface of the water and is easily washed ashore.

Pieces of amber differ from each other not only in shape, but also in color, hardness, and transparency. Amber color - yellow with different shades, from light yellow to red. There is also white amber, similar to ivory.

This stone has been loved and revered since ancient times. Beads, buttons and many other items made of amber were found in Stone Age burials.

Amber is one of the first precious stones known to mankind. The symbol of the Sun, amber, adorned the crown of the famous Egyptian pharaoh Tutankhamun. A small amber figurine in those days was worth more than a strong, good slave.

Archaeological research has confirmed that with the beginning of barter trade in Europe, amber spread very widely. Baltic was especially valued. Therefore, it is not surprising that since ancient times it has attracted merchants from Phenicia, Greece, and Rome to the shores of the Baltic. Fascinated by the beauty of amber, they brought it home. Since then, amber has become known to the southern peoples. They brought it in unprocessed form, and then made bracelets, necklaces, buttons, pipes, and mouthpieces.

At the French court, fashionistas wore amber pendants with “flies”, and not every one of them could afford such a toy...

It is believed that holding amber beads in your hands strengthens your mental and physical strength. It is a stone of health, happiness and love. A powerful talisman and amulet, it helps the owner get away from problems, avoid quarrels and unpleasant situations. This stone supports optimism, gives comfort in different life situations and sharpens intuition.

Origin

The first, rather naive ideas regarding the origin of amber appeared in the works of ancient authors. Aeschylus and Sophocles believed that amber was tears. The comparison of this stone with tears is not accidental; some amber formations actually had the shape of teardrops.

The ancient Greek materialist philosopher Democritus believed that amber was the fossilized urine of wild animals, in particular lynx. Nineas interpreted the appearance of amber figuratively: he concluded that it was a concentrate of solar rays washed ashore by waves.

Pliny the Elder himself, like Aristotle, noted the plant origin of this stone. He came to the conclusion that amber was formed from the liquid resin of coniferous trees, and over time it hardened from the cold. Pliny came to this conclusion after he noticed that if you rub a piece of amber, it begins to smell like the resin of coniferous trees, and in the flame it begins to smoke.

The ancient Roman historian Tacitus came close to solving the origin of amber. In his works, he wrote the following about the origin of amber: “Amber itself is nothing more than the juice of plants, since animals and insects are sometimes found in it, enclosed in what was once a liquid juice. These countries were probably densely covered with forests that gave off balsam and amber. The rays of the low sun expelled this juice, and the liquid dripped into the sea, from where it was carried by storms to the opposite shore.”

There has also been speculation that amber is a specific secretion from whales that resembles ambergris.

Many ancient scientists tried to explain the appearance of amber. It was assumed that this was sea foam, frozen under the influence of sunlight, oil petrified at the bottom of the sea, hardened fat of mysterious animals. Nowadays, mineralogy researchers can say with complete confidence that amber is indeed the fossilized resin of Neolithic coniferous forests.

Amber was formed 60–70 million years ago from the resin of coniferous trees. As soil moisture increased and the climate warmed, trees released large amounts of resin. It hardened and fell into the soil with the remains of wood. After many millions of years, this resin is under the influence of various physical and chemical factors environment changed and turned into amber.

Its main reserves have accumulated near Kaliningrad in layers of blue earth. Probably, scientists would never be able to tell in detail about the origin of amber if it itself did not contain a piece of its history.

Place of Birth

Here in Taimyr, amber has been discovered, which lies in chalk deposits that are older than the blue earth.

In general, we can say that the deposits have not yet been studied enough and leave a lot of mysteries. The origin of many of them is still unclear. However, all of them are conventionally divided into primary and secondary, so-called amber placers.

Primary amber deposits are associated with coal deposits; they occurred in places where ancient trees grew. In such deposits, amber is distributed unevenly, large pieces are absent and have no special industrial significance.

Primary deposits include Fushunskoye in China, Kraugolnospasskoye and Uglovskoye in the Far East, deposits in Alaska, in the Khatanga depression, in the Urals, Austria and Canada.

Secondary deposits, which include amber placers and amber accumulations, are somewhat remote from their primary locations. Amber, which has a density of slightly more than one, floats well on water, which in general played a role in its movement over a distance. The water eroded the deposit and took part of the amber with it.

Secondary deposits of amber are found in Russia, the Baltic states, Germany, Poland, Alaska and Ukraine.

Amber mining

Especially a lot of amber was mined during amber storms. Not far from the village of Palmnikena in 1862, as a result of a storm, about two tons of amber were thrown ashore by the surf, and in 1878 the amount of amber that the residents of coastal villages had been collecting for several years ended up on the shore. In 1914, 0.8 tons of amber washed ashore northeast of Palmniken. After calculations, the researchers concluded that every year the sea presented people with gifts in the form of 36–38 tons of amber. In total, about 150 thousand tons of sunstone have been collected on the Baltic Sea coast so far.

Residents of the Baltic coast were collecting amber until the Teutonic Order declared monopoly ownership of the stone. Special punitive bodies were established that carefully ensured that no one dared to collect amber either on the shore or at sea. Disobedience was punishable by death.

From the beginning of the 17th century and especially in the 19th century, amber was extracted from the sea by divers. However, this method did not provide enough stone. Later, boats began to go out to sea for amber. One of the swimmers began to loosen the bottom with a long pole, and the others used nets to catch the amber that rose to the surface of the water.

After the creation of the diving suit, people tried to extract amber in a new way, but the divers' trips often ended tragically and were unproductive.

For the first time, amber began to be mined on land only at the end of the 17th century. To do this, deep holes were dug on the shore in places where there was a large amount of amber crumbs. They usually dug until amber began to emerge, which was immediately caught with nets.


In the 17th century, the first attempts were made to develop layers with amber inclusions. Adits were built in the coastal cliffs, but they were subsequently covered with sand, blocking access to the amber-bearing layers. This method of extracting amber also turned out to be unprofitable.

Since the beginning of the 19th century, amber began to be mined using open-pit mines. The layers with amber inclusions were developed over the course of a year by filling small quarries. Amber was mined in this way for almost 50 years.

In the 19th century, with the invention of dredging machines, amber mining increased significantly. Sand containing amber was scooped up from the bottom and delivered to the coast, where the stone was separated from the sand. In this way, 75 tons of amber were mined per year.

In the seventies, underground mining began again. Construction of the first mine structures and amber processing factories began. Underground mining continued until 1922.

Before World War II, amber was mined by quarrying. Using powerful excavators, the upper layers of rock up to 30 meters deep were removed. The rock containing amber was loaded onto train platforms and transported to the processing plant.

As a result of the occupation of the Baltic states by the German army during World War II, amber mining enterprises in the Baltic states were completely destroyed. Only in 1947 did work begin on restoring the power supply system, developing quarries, and providing water communications.


Today, the most involved in the extraction of amber modern technology: walking excavators, powerful hydraulic monitors capable of processing the 40-meter layer that covers the “blue earth” containing sunstone.

The most productive method of extracting amber currently is from an open pit. This method is used to extract stone in the village of Yantarny, where the largest deposit is located.

People had to remove seven million cubic meters of soil in order to get to the huge unique deposits. This deposit accounts for more than 90% of all world amber production.

The village is home to the famous Amber Factory, whose products are famous all over the world.

The amber-bearing soil is supplied for washing and then to the processing plant. There, the sunstone is sorted, pressed, and distilled into chemical products. A lot of amber is exported.


Amber is used as an insulating material in electrical and radio engineering, for the production of special oils, acids, and varnishes. Succinic acid is used in agriculture and pharmacology. But the most widespread use of sunstone is in the jewelry industry.

Types of amber and its imitation

Simetite - Sicilian amber and Romanianite - Romanian amber are rare yellow color, they are most often black, red-brown, brown, the color of burnt sugar. At the same time, Romanian amber has many cracks, but despite this it is perfectly polished.

Burmite - Burmese amber - usually Brown. Often has beautiful calcite veining and a large number of insects.

The hardest of all types of amber is birmite. The hardness of the main types of amber varies from 2.5 to 3 on the Mohs scale. The specific gravity of amber is 1.04-1.10. It decreases with an increase in the number of inclusions present in it in the form of air bubbles and plant fragments.

Amber, as an amorphous substance, has only one refractive index, which is on average 1.54. Amber softens at a temperature of 180 °C, at a temperature of 300 °C it melts and begins to burn, emitting a specific smell.

Amber is very easily electrified when rubbed against wool fabric or fur, as a result of which it acquires the ability to attract light objects such as straw, pieces of paper, and thread. However, this ability cannot be considered its main feature, because many types of synthetic imitation of amber have the ability to become electrified. But if the sample is not electrified by friction, then we can say with complete certainty that it does not belong to amber. An example of such a case is the imitation of amber from casein plastics.

One of the most famous imitations of amber is pressed amber, the so-called ambroid. Ambroid was first produced in 1881 from crumbs of Baltic amber. Amber crumbs melt at a temperature of 200–250 °C and, in the molten state, are pressed into a homogeneous solid mass. Ambroid looks like real natural amber and has its inherent properties. An experienced person can determine the authenticity of amber with the naked eye.


In the pressed stone you can see lines of merging of transparent amber with cloudy amber. Pressed stone is also characterized by the presence of a large number of air bubbles elongated in one direction. Real amber contains air bubbles of an even spherical shape.

In addition to the described species, there are also stones that are younger in time of their formation. These include copal and cowrie. They are often found in New Zealand. Such amber can be considered young, immature, and not “seasoned” enough. There are several ways to identify copal. Copal melts easily and dissolves quickly in ether. The place on which a drop of ether falls becomes sticky to the touch and becomes cloudy after the substance evaporates. This reaction is not observed in the case of natural and pressed amber.

Another characteristic property of copal is its tendency to form cracks. Copal is also so soft that this feature can be noticed by simply pressing it with a hard object.

The presence of insects or plant fragments in a sample is not absolute confirmation that this is real “adult” amber. In addition, synthetic imitations of amber with insects are increasingly common. However, the “martyrs” immured in them are arranged too neatly to be mistaken for genuine ones. The insects, poured into transparent plastics, are already dead - and in the poses in which they are immortalized, there are no signs of a struggle for their lives, everything is too beautiful.

Amber is also imitated with various synthetic resins. It should be noted that almost all imitations have a significantly higher specific gravity compared to real amber. Therefore, authenticity can be determined by one more in a simple way using regular table salt. Ten teaspoons of table salt dissolve in a glass of water. In such a solution, all samples of natural and pressed amber will float, and all plastic imitations will sink to the bottom.

You can check the authenticity of an amber sample using a sharp pocket knife, but this will require slightly damaging the sample. The fact is that when you try to make a cut from a sample, natural amber and copal will crumble, while shavings will come off a synthetic sample.

The authenticity of amber is also verified by flame. The shavings or crumbs of the sample must be held in the flame of an alcohol lamp, while natural amber and copal will burn with the release of aromatic smoke, celluloid will burn instantly, bakelite will only be charred.

Glass imitations of amber look very impressive. However, the warmth of stone cannot be confused with the dead coldness of glass. Glass is also characterized by high density and hardness, which will prevent you from making mistakes when identifying the authenticity of amber.

Inclusions in amber

Scientists have discovered and described more than 900 species of insects and small animals in amber. Inclusions have great importance to study the evolution of nature. They are a direct source of knowledge of life that existed on earth many millions of years ago. Based on the smallest fragments of plants and animals preserved in amber, the picture of the “amber forest” was restored.

Amber contains a wide variety of inclusions: needles of coniferous trees, scraps of leaves, flower petals, tree branches. The insects preserved in amber drops seem especially wonderful. Once their curiosity cost the insects their lives; it is not so easy to escape from the captivity of viscous tree resin.

Grains of sand and pieces of earth were carried into the resin by the wind or the paws of small animals. Forever hidden under a layer of solar resin were also plant seeds, scraps of ancient animal fur, bird feathers, and pieces of tree bark. Inclusions with water droplets and air bubbles are very rare.

Amber with inclusions has always been highly valued. At the beginning of our era, Phoenician merchants gave 120 swords and 60 daggers for amber with an ant or moth immured in it.

There are collections of amber with inclusions. Before the Second World War, the museum of the University of Königsberg had the richest collection. The collection contained more than 65 thousand exhibits. The most unique among them was a lizard with a torn off tail, clusters of ants, dragonflies with outstretched wings that barely fit in a piece of amber, swarms of wasps and bees, spiders on a cobweb. Unfortunately, the collection suffered the same fate as the famous “Amber Room”.

The frog, immortalized in amber, was exhibited for a long time in the natural history room of Vilnius University.

Today you can see amber wonders in the Amber Museum in Palanga. Visitors will see spiders with outstretched legs, probably trying to escape from their viscous captivity, flies caught in flight, termites and fat cockroaches, ants carrying straws.

The extraordinary preservation of amber inclusions can be explained by the low viscosity of the resin of coniferous trees. Attracted by the sap of the tree, the insect landed on the burl and could no longer escape from captivity; the resin flowing from the wood filled the captive layer by layer, which subsequently ensured good preservation of the smallest organs of arthropods, measured in microns. Nature has prepared incredible gifts for our entomological researchers.

Amber processing

Amber objects became widespread around three thousand years BC. During this period, amber processing had already reached a fairly high level. The amber products found were already decorated with rather complex carvings. All of them reflected aspects of life and worldview of primitive man.

About 1,500 household items made of amber were discovered by archaeologists on the Luban Plain. The bulk of the items consisted of beads, pendants, rings, beads, and combs. The researchers were amazed by the variety of shapes of the pendants found: they were made in the form of drops, elongated trapezoids, round, rectangular, with wavy and jagged edges. The pendants in the form of birds, animals, and snakes aroused particular admiration.

Necklaces and beads were assembled from beads of the most varied shapes: round, tetrahedral, almond-shaped, bean-shaped, etc.


Amber products dating back to the beginning of the Bronze Age are found in many countries around the world; this is evidence that by that time serial production and trade of amber “miracles” between the eastern and northern neighbors was well established.

Europe became acquainted with amber already in the 1st century BC. e. Warm sunstone was not only easy to process, but also amazed the imagination with a variety of honey shades. Amber was traded from the Baltic to the North Sea.

Most of the mined amber was used to make rosaries and other religious items that were in demand in the countries of the East.

Amber was also used to create optical glasses. In the Middle Ages, glasses with amber lenses were considered the best and most expensive. Amber lenses were used in the production of microscopes, magnifying glasses, and magnifiers.

The question arises of how heterogeneous cloudy amber could be used to make optical glasses. Already at that time, people were well exploring the properties of amber, namely its ability to become clear when heated in oil. As a result of heating, a perfectly clean material, transparent as glass, was obtained, suitable for turning lenses.

In the 13th century, the Teutonic Order declared a monopoly on the extraction, processing and trade of amber both on the coast and in the Baltic Sea itself. Disobedience was punishable by death. This fact significantly slowed down the development of amber craft. But amber still continued to reach other countries along trade routes laid over centuries.

In the XVII, early XVIII centuries, amber began to be used primarily for decorative artistic objects. At this time, amber began to be used to decorate the interior of palaces and castles. Cups, vases, boxes, pipes, snuff boxes, lamps, sculptures were carved from solar stone, paintings were created using the mosaic technique, and frames for them. It was at this time that furniture inlaid with amber appeared, sculptures of Madonnas, Danzig ships, and mirror frames were created. It is known that Louis XIV owned a large amber vase made in the form of a gondola. At that time, amber was equal in value to ivory.

In the 19th century, with the invention of dredging machines, amber mining increased significantly. This resulted in a reduction in its cost. Consumer goods began to be produced from amber: buttons, combs, smoking pipes, cane knobs, handles for umbrellas and knives, boxes, etc. Products made from amber became more and more accessible. The craftsmen preferred to use pure, uniformly colored amber in their work, so they removed all inclusions and gave the products the correct geometric shapes. Amber works lost their naturalness and uniqueness.

In the mid-twentieth century, amber processing traditions began to develop especially quickly. Professional schools specializing in the production of amber products began to appear in Europe.

The largest amber processing enterprise is located in the Kaliningrad region in Russia. Amber was also traditionally processed in Lithuania and Latvia.

Before turning into a beautiful sunny necklace or honey-yellow bracelet, amber needs to go through a number of preparatory procedures.


First of all, the amber is washed and sorted. Unprocessed, it does not look at all as attractive as we are used to seeing it; pieces of amber are covered with a brown oxidized crust on top. In order to reveal the treasures hidden underneath, in the procurement workshop of a processing enterprise, cutters use a special knife with a curved blade to cut off the crust and shape the piece better shape, trying to preserve its uniqueness.

The amber is then sent to a stone-cutting shop, where large grinding machines are used to shape the pieces and where the pieces are polished with felt discs. Only after this does amber finally acquire its unique appearance and can serve as a material for creating art and jewelry.

The majority of amber products produced are beads and necklaces. The configuration of beads prepared for their implementation is very diverse: round, oval, rectangular flat, faceted. Amber beads are cut on special grinding machines; the number of faces varies from 3 to 64. Bead models differ in color, size and order of arrangement of beads on the thread.

Decorative beads made from naturally asymmetrical, slightly polished pieces of amber are also very popular.


With all the variety of modern processing possibilities, craftsmen consider it important not to change amber, giving it a clear correct form, and carefully preserve its color and structure, emphasize its living natural beauty. It is important not to spoil the natural charm of amber, not to disturb the play of colors, not to extinguish the honey sparkles hiding inside. Experienced craftsmen achieve incredible results when working with amber, only skillfully noticing the charm of the sun stone through grinding and setting.

The main products of the artists of the Kaliningrad processing plant are jewelry - such as brooches, cufflinks, tie clips, bracelets, necklaces, rings, etc. Amber has an amazing ability to combine with almost all decorative materials: ebony, ivory, enamel, silver, gold, copper and even precious stones. In the works of Baltic masters, amber plays a leading role, and other materials only complement it, playing a secondary role.

It is in working with metal that the artist’s skill is demonstrated. Amber is dressed in an openwork filigree frame, chain mail weaving, oxidized silver, edging, bending, chasing, engraving, blackening, calcination, shiny polishing, enameling. Amber decorated with grains looks rich, which gives expressiveness and sophistication to the product.


For a very long time, masters argued about whether amber was compatible with precious metals, in particular with gold. Opinions have been expressed that gold outshines amber in its grandeur; in some works the stone is actually lost, but in this case one can only complain about the inexperience of the craftsman who made the product.

The elegant openwork frame, made using filigree technique, favorably emphasizes the pristine beauty of amber. The fine art of filigree came to Russia from the countries of the East and on our soil acquired a completely new shade.

Transparent ambers with a reddish tint and containing iridescent sparkles are best combined with gold. Natural ambers of this color are very rare in nature, but they are obtained in abundance in laboratory conditions. You can make amber transparent and get sparkling sparkles by heating it. In this case, the amber becomes covered with a red crust, and sparkling fan-shaped cracks appear inside it, resembling fish scales in shape. Amber clarified in this way takes on a beautiful cherry hue.

Beautiful products are obtained with amber that has inclusions of plant fragments or air bubbles.

Amber, characterized by its low hardness and variety of shapes, requires a special type of fastening in jewelry. Most often, a free pendant with “spike fasteners” is used to secure amber in a frame. With this method of fastening, a spike-wire with a curved tip is glued into a hole drilled in the amber. This fastening favorably emphasizes the beauty and expressiveness of the stone.

Recently, polished colored ambers of indeterminate shapes have been obtained by rolling in special pellet drums. Beads obtained in this way are used to create beads and necklaces.

Legends and myths

The gray waves of the Baltic bring pieces of yellow resin ashore - sometimes matte, sometimes transparent. This path of amber from the depths of the sea to the shore gave rise to a fantastic legend telling about its origin.

At the bottom of the Baltic Sea, in an amber castle, lived beautiful goddess Jurate. The brave young fisherman Kastitis dared to fish in her domain. The goddess sent her mermaids to warn Kastitis so that he would not muddy the waters of the Baltic Sea. But the young man was not afraid of her warnings and continued to throw nets into the sea.

Jurate fell in love with Kastitis for his courage and beauty and took him to her amber castle. But the supreme god Perkunas was angered by the love of the immortal goddess and man. God destroyed the castle, chained Jurate to the ruins, and killed Kastitis. Since then, Jurate has been bitterly mourning her lover. Her sobs even touch the eternally cold depths of the Baltic Sea, which, in its agitation, throws fragments of the amber castle ashore.

The healing properties of amber

Avicenna called amber a cure for many diseases in the “Canon of Medical Science,” which became the fundamental encyclopedia of medical knowledge of the medieval East.

In 1551, A. Aurifaber, in his work on amber, gave 46 recipes for using amber in medicine. He believed that the most valuable healing properties has white amber, which, in his opinion, is also the purest. Scientific research has refuted this assumption of the ancient doctor. White amber (or, as it is also called, “bone amber”) sometimes contains a large amount of active chemical elements.

Amber was even considered a magic stone, it was worshiped, amulets, amulets and talismans were made from it, bringing happiness. Amber was credited with the ability to protect the owner from evil spirits and diseases.

This beautiful, pleasant-to-touch stone was considered a guardian stone, protecting against the evil eye and slander. Amber was considered a comforting stone in troubles and adversity. It was believed that there was no disease for which amber could not help.

Women decorated themselves with amber. They believed that it not only enhances beauty dark skin, but also makes it matte, clean, healthy.

Translated from Lithuanian “gintaras” means protection against diseases. Famous historical fact when the Lithuanian Duke Albrecht made his wish get well soon Luther was accompanied by large pieces of amber.

Europeans made cases for smoking pipes, mouthpieces, and cigarette cases from amber. Products made from sunstone were beautiful and quite expensive; they were in demand for a long time, this was explained by the disinfecting properties attributed to amber.

In our time, serious scientific research has confirmed what our ancestors felt intuitively. Folk way Treatment with amber now has a fairly solid scientific basis. Research has shown that amber is rich in salts of succinic acid, which is a nonspecific biostimulant.

The range of action of succinic acid is quite wide. Amber stimulates nervous system, kidney and intestinal activity, used as an anti-stress, anti-inflammatory, anti-toxic agent.

When using drugs containing succinic acid, the acid-base picture of the blood is normalized and strength is restored even in elderly people. A significant content of succinic acid has been detected in grapes, gooseberries, turnips, and rhubarb.

Succinic acid is obtained from amber. It is quite widely used in industry and agriculture. Technical succinic acid is used for the production of reactive succinic acid, succinic anhydride, sodium and ammonium succinic acid salts, a number of esters of succinic acid, many dyes, toothpaste, and soap.

Recently, a new area of ​​application of succinic acid in medicine has opened - as a biogenic stimulant. Its action is reduced to activating all enzymes in the body. Therefore, we can safely say that succinic acid is an important factor in regulating the physiological state of the body.

Already in the 30s of the last century, succinic acid was used in medicine as a biological stimulant that promotes better survival of tissue preserved in the cold. L.N. Kondrashova, in her work “Regulation of energy supply and functional state of tissue by succinic acid,” completed in 1971, concludes that succinic acid can be successfully used for therapeutic and prophylactic purposes.

The therapeutic effect of succinic acid on the body is based on enhancing regenerative processes. Therefore, it is especially important to use succinic acid preparations for pathologies of the heart, kidneys, age-related disorders of regulatory nerve centers, with intense muscle activity and when the body is exposed to toxic substances, in particular antibiotics.

Succinic acid is like fuel that burns in cells. Healthy cells do not need it, and it simply does not reach them. In turn, the acid accurately finds the diseased cell, instantly penetrates it and supports the functioning of the corresponding organ.

Succinic acid not only regulates processes, but also restores previously lost tissue functions; it resumes vital processes in dying and sluggish tissues. It is most advisable to use succinic acid preparations for moderate weakening of the body. This will help prevent severe consequences. It is possible to combine succinic acid with other medications.

Succinic acid is non-toxic and does not accumulate in body tissues. It provides natural normalization of animal and plant organisms. It is used in the treatment of anemia; its sodium salt is administered intravenously to remove it from a coma and awaken from anesthesia.

History of the Amber Room

The Dane Gottfried Wolfram was invited to Konigsberg. The Danish artist and architect was the best connoisseur of amber and a master of its processing. He received an order to create an amber gallery for Charlottenburg Castle, which is located in the vicinity of Berlin. In 1707 the first wall of the gallery was completed.


However, soon the services of the Danish master seemed too expensive to the architect of Charlottenburg Castle, Eosander von Goethe, and he refused his services.

The work of creating the amber gallery was transferred to two amber masters from the city of Gdansk - Gottfried Turov and Ernst Schacht. Covering the walls of an entire gallery with amber slabs turned out to be too expensive, and therefore a decision was made to reduce the amount of work: it was decided to decorate not the entire gallery, but only one office. But despite this, the area of ​​the amber slabs that were supposed to cover the walls of the palace cabinet was about 70 m2.

In 1716, Tsar Peter I visited King Frederick William at his residence in Berlin. There Peter saw an amber cabinet, which he really liked. The Tsar expressed a wish to have a similar room in his palace in St. Petersburg.

The Prussian king dreamed of a powerful ally in the form of the growing Russian state and therefore decided to present the amber cabinet to the Russian Tsar as a gift.

Before being sent to St. Petersburg, the walls of the amber cabinet were dismantled into separate panels and transported through the Baltic states.


Forty years later, Empress Elizabeth ordered the Amber Room to be moved to a residence in Tsarskoe Selo, where the room was subsequently repeatedly changed, supplemented, and remodeled. As a result, the area of ​​amber panels covering the walls of the office increased almost fourfold. The details of the amber room reflected the change from one artistic style to another. The Amber Room was a mixture of Baroque and Rococo styles.

The Amber Room became widely known not only for its historical and artistic value, but most of all for the hypotheses and legends about its disappearance and location that arose after its disappearance during the Second World War.

Who helped the Amber Room disappear? When the Nazi troops were approaching Leningrad, the high command of the German army, Erich Koch, Gauleiter of East Prussia, received a message from Dr. Alfred Rohde, in which he spoke about a monument of art located in the Leningrad region. Alfred Rohde was the director of the Prussian Museum in Königsberg and knew very well the location of the rare work of art.

Objects of art exported from the occupied territories were dealt with by Rosenberg’s apparatus, which headed a special department “for the protection of works of culture and art.” Rosenberg was in charge of an SS battalion consisting of uniformed art critics and historians. This battalion was headed by officer von Künsberg, a professional art critic. Alfred Rohde's idea to remove the Amber Room from Russia to East Prussia was received with enthusiasm by Koch. They both wanted to get their hands on a rare monument of art.

Losing a monument of art in the labyrinths of party and state power in hectic wartime turned out to be not such an easy matter. Erich Koch developed an entire campaign to remove the art monument from the city of Pushkin.

A press conference was organized in the West, at which a statement was made that the famous monument of art on the territory of hostilities was in danger of destruction. Newspapers were full of headlines calling on the German people to save the historical monument created by order of the Prussian king. It was assumed that the masterpiece would be returned to its historical homeland in Prussia and placed in an art museum.

After a preparatory campaign in the press, Koch’s people got involved in the matter, who until that time had tried to remain in the shadows. Koch had influential friends in the German army command. In particular, the troops occupying the Leningrad region were led by Field Marshal Koechler, an old friend of Koch and the former commander of the Wehrmacht in East Prussia. It was not difficult to agree on mutually beneficial cooperation...

Soon, persistent requests were made from among the soldiers and officers of the Prussian divisions to save a historical monument dear to the Prussian people. “Satisfying” the wishes of the people, Koch and Rohde calmly set to work.


The dismantling of the Amber Room was carried out under the supervision of Dr. Rohde. He was a good expert on amber, the author of many scientific works dedicated to it. To its credit, Rohde meticulously described all the pieces of amber equipment in the room. Everything was carefully numbered, placed in boxes, loaded into a convoy of cars and covered with a thick tarpaulin.

From Dr. Rode's notes, which were later examined by scientists, it became clear that the amber lining of the walls was placed in twenty-two boxes measuring four by two meters. After the war, Dr. Rohde's notes were examined several times. When comparing the pre-war data with the doctor's data, it was revealed that fifty square meters of amber lining located on the friezes and lampshades were missing. This fact is just one of the list of mysteries related to the disappearance of the Amber Room.

Upon arrival in Prussia, an exhibition was held in the castle of Königsberg, where a masterpiece of amber architecture was presented.

According to the memoirs of Erich Koch, which he retold many years later in a Polish prison, the spectacle was fabulous and truly captured the imagination of the common man. The beauty was so unreal that it was hard to believe that such a miracle could be created by the hands of an earthly man. The walls of the showroom were covered to the ceiling with carved amber. Mirrors in crystal frames framed with amber sparkled with thousands of sparks. Paintings by old masters were mounted in the amber panels. The amber carving was so miniature that it had to be examined with a magnifying glass.

It is reliably known from documents that in the fall of 1944 the Amber Room was located at Koch’s residence, although Rosenberg did not give up attempts to take control of the fate of the masterpiece into his own hands. It is also known that Rosenberg even addressed this question to Hitler himself, but he, taking into account “Koch’s services to the Fatherland,” ordered that the room be left under the jurisdiction of Gauleiter Koch.

When the bombing began, the amber masterpiece was again dismantled and packed into boxes, as it turned out, forever. The world never saw the amber tale of the Russian Tsar again.

Boxes with amber slabs were lowered into the castle cellars. However, the front line was getting closer to Koenigsberg, and Soviet troops were advancing. Koch sounded the alarm; he asked Berlin for help and asked to send a commissioner “to receive works of art, documents and valuables concentrated in the city.”

SS Obersturmbannführer Georg Ringel, accompanied by ten SS men, was sent as a commissioner to Konigsberg. Subsequently, it turned out that the name of the commissioner was a pseudonym, which made further searches for the missing masterpiece very difficult.

It is known from the documents that among the valuables to be evacuated were also about 800 icons stolen from churches in Kyiv, Kharkov, and Rostov.


After the capture of Koenigsberg, a special commission from Moscow arrived in the city, searching for works of art and culture taken from the territory of the Soviet Union during the occupation. This commission was headed by art critic Professor Bryusov. He knew Dr. Rohde well from his scientific work and offered him cooperation in rescuing the historical treasures remaining in the ruins of Konigsberg.

Dr. Alfred Rohde handed over to the Soviet authorities a small amount of valuables looted by German soldiers and several museum exhibits preserved from the siege of Königsberg in 1945. But Rade did not say a word about the location of the Amber Room - however, no one asked him about it; by that time, the Soviet authorities simply did not know that the priceless masterpiece had been taken from Pushkin to Konigsberg. Rode only mentioned that under the ruins of the city there seemed to be values ​​of world significance. But the commission from Moscow already had a lot to do to still chase ghosts.

Alfred Rohde and his wife disappeared completely mysteriously. In the apartment where the Rode couple lived, two death certificates were found, from which it became clear that both spouses died of bloody dysentery with signs of typhus. The certificates were signed by the German doctor Paul Ehrmann. However, it later turned out that there were no burials with the bodies of the Rode couple in any cemetery in the city of Konigsberg, and no one had ever heard of Dr. Paul Erman.

One of the versions of the disappearance of Rohde and his wife was the involvement of “werewolves”, saboteurs of German intelligence, in the case. It is believed that the couple were poisoned, especially since the Koenigsberg reconnaissance group was led by the same mysterious Obersturmbannführer Georg Ringel, who was involved in the evacuation of valuables. In general, the pseudonym “Ringel” is derived from the German word “Ring” - ring. Such pseudonyms were chosen by secret agents who dealt with gold items, precious stones and currency.

There are very few witnesses left to the disappearance of the Amber Room; war is a hectic time when it was not difficult to “lose” a person, especially when the special services are involved in this.

Many years after the end of the war, Professor Bryusov received a letter from Dr. Rohde’s son, in which he says: “...I cannot imagine that my father could allow the Amber Room to be removed from Konigsberg. It seems to me that she is in the basements of the castle...”


An important witness was the owner of the restaurant located in the basement of the castle, Paul Feuerbrandt. During the investigation, he stated that in the fall of 1944, boxes with amber panels were hidden in the basements of the castle - and when the siege of the city began, they were still there.

The inspector of monuments and museums of the city, Dr. Frese, could also have known about the fate of the Amber Room, but he left Konigsberg just before its capture and disappeared without a trace.

It is still not clear why Dr. Rohde remained in the city, why he did not leave it with the troops. Perhaps he was carrying out some kind of task or finding out what the Soviet authorities knew about the disappearance of the masterpiece.

Unfortunately, this is all the information regarding the disappearance of the Amber Room, followed by speculation, conjecture, legends, suspicions and the hope that someday we will be able to see the amber miracle again...

From the book “Secrets of Precious Stones” by Ruslan Startsev

Until recently, various versions were expressed about the origin of amber. It was assumed that it was the petrified tears of Indian birds, the frozen rays of the setting sun on the seashore, and even the creation of warm clay. In ancient times it was believed that amber- these are nothing more than pieces of petrified pine resin, which are created by the warm rays of the sun. No less interesting is the hypothesis that amber is fossilized honey from wild bees, or better yet, a petroleum product. We can discuss this topic endlessly, discussing one hypothesis or another, but in fact, amber is an organic mineral that is directly related to typical resins.

In nature, this mineral is distinguished by its beauty and variety of colors. The most common shades are yellow and brick tones. There are also colors such as: white, blue, green and black.

If you see amber with inclusions of internal bubbles reminiscent of nebulae, then this stone is considered to be of low quality. At the same time, green and blue mineral, with inclusions of air bubbles, is extremely beautiful. In the sun it shimmers with all the colors of the rainbow. Red amber looks quite original. People call it ruby.

The mineral is mined in various parts of the world. Depending on this, they give it a name. For example, Bakelite is mined in California, and in Romania humanizes.

The most common type of amber is suxinite, it is also called "true amber". Deposits of this mineral are located in the Baltic states,

Amber jewelry has gained the greatest popularity only recently, although mankind has been using them since the Stone Age. Contrary to all speculation, it has been proven that this natural mineral is nothing more than fossilized pine resin that has lain in the sea for more than 60 million years. Amber can contain an electrical charge, so if you rub pieces of paper on it, they will be attracted to it.

Ancient people believed that amber had magical powers and was able to transfer it to humans. That is why it was included in amulets and various necklaces. There were rituals with which one could charge amber and use it as a talisman.

In ancient China, amber was called "Soul of the Tiger". There was an opinion that it was good protection against fire and water. And in ancient Rome Amber was given to gladiators to enhance their courage. In the Middle East, it was believed that if you put amber on your wife's chest, it would make her confess to all her sins. The Romans considered amber a stone of courage. It will also help you if you suffer from shyness and fear of expressing your opinion.

Amber has been used in medicine for many centuries. Nowadays, doctors use various ointments based on amber oil. In the Middle Ages, amber was used to treat a number of diseases. These were: asthma, bone problems - arthritis, poisoning, infectious diseases, including plague, dizziness. Since ancient times, amber has been a protection for pregnant women. It was believed that he helped them during childbirth.

Secrets of precious stones Startsev Ruslan Vladimirovich

Chapter 7. Secrets of Amber

Chapter 7. Secrets of Amber

“And when Aladdin rubbed the ancient inscription on the ancient lamp, the unprecedented happened. The sky was covered in darkness, hundreds of lightning bolts cut through it with their fiery arrows. A terrible tornado grew, and from it a genie emerged. “Demand, my lord! I obey, for I am the slave of the lord of the lamp.”

Tales of genies, marids and spirits living in rings, imprisoned in bottles or living in magic lamps are not without meaning. Indeed, for many astral entities, “living” in a closed space, a container, is very “convenient” and “presentable.” There are also characters in this secret world who do not even imagine their existence outside their personal refuge, and although they can implement a lot outside their personal space, their main essence never leaves their main possession.

Very often this core essence is something that once had life force, a developed soul, or a spiritual embodiment. We will talk about ancient insects, flowers and plants, locked in the arms of time - in the shackles of amber. Nature itself chose them for eternal sleep and life.

Finding amber like this is quite difficult. But, if you are lucky, you will have at your disposal a magnificent opportunity and power that can be applied in any life situation and with their help solve many problems. Such amber can become your personal totem, symbol and assistant in acquiring the love, trust and respect of everyone around you, a living magnet that attracts wealth, luck and power to you. This natural talisman will certainly become your protection and patron, giving you the necessary vitality and a sense of new opportunities and advantages. Any of your wishes will be fulfilled, unless it contradicts the general laws of development and evolution.

But first, you still need to find or purchase such amber. It is best if some kind of arachnid creature or winged insect is enclosed in it. You can use transparent amber with leaves of prehistoric plants. Amber with other inclusions in the form of fish scales, twigs or bubbles of ancient air is less suitable for this role.

If you do not have the opportunity to purchase such amber, then you can use hardened plum tree resin, which is released in large quantities in spring and summer, and by autumn it manages to harden well and imprison modern incarnations of souls, organic components, in its eternal captivity. Try to give preference to the most ancient solar stone, which carries the most mysterious powers and capabilities. But these possibilities are still hidden under the thickness of centuries and centuries, which flashed like an instant for the history of the Earth and its inhabitants. You need to stretch, prolong this moment, determine its future and take the part of time that belongs to it.

In addition to amber, you will need: an aromatic sandalwood stick, which is used in Buddhist temples and which you can buy in a specialized store, a small glass or crystal glass and an “Amber Field”. Draw a triangle on a piece of paper, with mystical signs inside and a symbol of the main astral forces in the center. Use black ink for this and add a drop of patchouli essential oil or alcoholic infusion of wormwood. The entire image can be of any size, but the distance between the three characters must be such that you can simultaneously touch two characters with the thumb and index finger of one hand.

On Wednesday evening, begin your main secret action. Place the “Amber Field” on the table so that the upper corner of the triangle depicted on it points to the east. Place the amber in the center of the field directly on the drawn symbol. Stand facing east. Light the sandalwood stick. Create a circle around the amber - move the smoking stick over the amber clockwise in a circle and say the following words:

Nomeni patrum astrum.

Quadro lassa amiatur, forne ate agla vadat.

Usara lada. Defo lacon. Ame lagas, sale farkan.

Take a glass cup in your left hand. Place a smoking stick under it. When the glass is filled with smoke, cover the amber with it and say:

Madoma kan vero, ito kan fado. Taut outauda, ​​kato paas.

Touch the pad of the thumb of your left hand to the sign that is depicted in the left corner of the triangle, and indicate this action with a spell:

Satkas virero. Katakana Davido. Hardabura!

At the moment of pronouncing these words, you should feel how the sign begins to pulsate and acquire the ability to move and act. Your words woke him up from his sleep, giving him a sense of space and time. While still holding your finger on the first sign, touch your right thumb to the second sign located in the right corner of the triangle and say:

Zaido karafor. Mago varad. Relay!

Feel how this sign comes to life. Touch the third character with the index fingers of both hands, while holding thumbs in their original places. In this case, your spell should sound like this:

Gidagon zagal. Radar yoke. Hardagon!

After a short pause, say the main words:

Gelos fada ade wad!

Centura orchado con libura!

Arma zardh faud. Abifagol! Drop Darh.

Ta'aws magib daru.

Harda farad idos, naetp osmad.

Faul idkadon ibos. Lamu wad ed liku.

Ava deus. Ave con.

When starting a spell, pronounce it quietly and calmly, but with each new phrase, try to add more and more expressiveness, strength and significance to the spoken phrases. With each new word you say, the flow of energy should become faster and more unstoppable, and at the very end of the spell it should reach its climax. When this happens, remove your fingers from the signs, blow out the candle and take the amber in your hands. Say the final spell:

Magrab vardhaz!

The ritual is completed. The result was your personal magic stone with an “executive spirit” capable of responding to your call and forced to do everything you ask of it. To do this, simply rub the amber with your palm or on clothing (woolen fabric) and say:

Magrab vardhaz!

While reciting the spell, mentally make a wish. Imagine the desired events or situation in which you would like to find yourself, and if it is realistic and feasible, your personal spirit will definitely give you what you conjure it for.

But still, try not to ask the genie for something specific and specific. The astral world responds more easily and more accurately to general problems, for which there are hundreds of ways to solve them, than to clear demands, often fulfilled only in one single way. In addition, certain situations and events you requested, which should not happen at all either in your life or in the lives of other people, can undermine the strength of your secret executor and for some time reduce his efficiency for other matters. Therefore, do not set impossible tasks for him and avoid ambiguous definitions. A simple request that all the activities of the coming day be successful will be quite enough for the creative work of your secret assistant.

Don’t forget that you yourself have will, intelligence, strength and power, and are capable of solving many of your problems on your own and finding the right path to success. Once you demand the benefits of the genie, apply your own efforts. Combine your own abilities with the capabilities of secret forces, and you will become invincible.

By using the magic of wish fulfillment, you will definitely receive confirmation of your magical action, your participation in the affairs of the infinite Universe, and therefore in your own life and destiny. Be flexible and don't stop there. Find new movement and space, apply it to the situation at hand, and your efforts will be rewarded.

Individual training in magic

INidentifying and developing your hidden abilities

Pdirect transmission of witchcraft and magical power

If you believe the marks on medieval maps of the Prussian kingdom, amber can be found on the Baltic Sea coast when the east wind blows, and when the wind blows from the western part you can collect great amount this valuable stone. For many centuries, the Prussians, Vikings and owners of German industrial enterprises searched for amber on the Baltic coast.

People barely managed to preserve the ancient craft. About 70 years ago, after the end of hostilities, the Kaliningrad Amber Combine, specially created for this purpose, began rescuing the flooded quarry where amber had previously been mined. Currently, amber is mined using completely different methods, not focusing on the direction of the winds.

How to find the "blue earth"?

Under the sand layer (the depth can reach 40-60 m), a powerful excavator searches for where the “blue earth” is located. Each cubic meter of this earth contains up to 4 kg of precious stone. Thanks to the pressure of water equipment, the earth turns into pulp (grains of sand, crushed blue clay and amber). Large stones are caught using a net, the rest passes through a pipeline to the amber sorting site.

The gray-green “shagun” at the bottom of the quarry from a great height of 50 m looks like a small toy that a child forgot in the sandbox, but it soon becomes clear that this is an optical illusion. According to the guide, the length of the boom reaches 70 m, the capacity of the equipment bucket is 10 cubic meters, and the weight of the excavator exceeds 600 tons.

The search for a mineral for the residents of the village with the poetic name of Yantarny is not only work responsibilities. Thanks to this mining method, it was possible to create a clean sandy beach, the widest in the Kaliningrad region. The sands are washed by the sea and are particularly clean. For the second year in a row, this place received the Blue Flag environmental award.

Today, amber reserves in the Primorskoye and Palmnikenskoye deposits amount to 116 thousand tons.

How is amber worked?

According to master technologist A. Kim, working with such a mineral is only possible manually. This is how you can notice the smallest structure, see all the cracks and irregularities. It is important not just to mine amber, but to listen and feel this mineral.

The most valuable is white amber with a matte tint. As for the transparent stone, it allows you to unleash creative possibilities, because it can be calcined and given almost any shade. Amber can even have green color, in this case, the “bottom” of the decoration is painted with a small amount of brilliant green.

At one of the Yantarny Yuvelirprom workshops, specialists make the stone perfectly round. According to the artist, such calibrated jewelry is popular among Chinese clients.

Some craftsmen are engaged in the manufacture of inserts for rings and earrings, and such inserts must be of a strictly defined shape. Other experts focus on the individual shape of the stone, only slightly emphasizing its natural beauty.

Tears of ancient pines

Amber is the resin of prehistoric coniferous trees, which turned into stone 140 million years ago. Currently, amber is mined on the shores of the Baltic Sea, but in ancient times powerful trees grew here.

The caretaker of the enterprise's museum, Galina Spivak, says: “In those days, the climatic conditions were different - the air temperature rose to 60 degrees under conditions of high humidity. This is why resin formed on trees. After a thunderstorm, trees often broke, resin oozed into large quantities, so now we can enjoy the sight of large and unique minerals.”

The largest nugget found by the company's employees weighs 3.2 kg. The stone is currently in storage. The museum also contains another large stone - 2.8 kg. It has not yet received a name, but experts affectionately nicknamed it the “embryo” because of its specific shape. The museum curator jokingly noted that this is not only a matter of external signs: “Whoever communicates with this stone can expect an addition to the family in 9 months; this feature has been noticed more than once.” Galina Iosifovna added that other stones also have magical properties. Some of them bring happiness, some - good luck in business. Of course, one can hardly believe such legends, but realizing the unusualness and mystery of the stone makes one feel good.

There is a nugget in the museum that has official name– “Patriarchal” amber. The stone was found on the day Patriarch Kirill visited the enterprise. It was he who consecrated and blessed the nugget.

Khrushchev's chandelier and amber throne

Galina Spivak has been an employee of the plant for more than 40 years, so she is well acquainted with the history of each museum exhibit. For example, the museum has an amber chandelier, which the company’s employees made to Nikita Khrushchev’s individual order. The chandelier never reached the official and remained stored in a warehouse. Not long ago it underwent restoration and was exhibited in the museum. During the production of this exhibit, 25 kg of mineral were spent.

Directly above the chandelier, visitors can see an amber throne. There are other valuable exhibits (for example, a luxurious diadem, orb and other “royal” paraphernalia).

In 2016 alone, approximately 60 thousand tourists visited the observation deck and the museum hall; we can conclude that the number of visits will only increase. Before its anniversary, the plant began preparing and updating infrastructure for tourists: the sites were refurbished, and preparations are now underway for the opening of a new museum premises, which will be accessible to visitors with limited mobility.

Galina Spivak shows us other values ​​of the museum. There is an amber map of the Russian Federation, which depicts Crimea (made in 2015), as well as a collection of minerals with inclusions (small particles of plants or fauna).

Captives of amber resin

Not so long ago, a mineral with inclusions was considered a defective stone. However, now it is of particular value. Ants and other insects that lived 50 million years ago, scales of ancient representatives of birds, pollen from representatives of flora - all this has been preserved by nature for the modern generation.

The rarest inclusion - a lizard - is now in Kaliningrad, in the Amber Museum. The appearance of such a stone is possible only thanks to an amazing chance, because even small animals are able to get out of the resin before it hardens.

It is by inclusions that an experienced person can distinguish an original mineral from a fake. The museum has a stand with fake products; the guides say that there is no way, for example, that a fish could have been in this stone, because amber petrification occurs only on land.

A stone with inclusions is distinguished not only by its beauty: this mineral benefits science, because it is through it that one can trace the development of representatives of flora and fauna. The plot of the film "Jurassic Park" contains points according to which dinosaur DNA was extracted from amber.

Thanks to the study of the Baltic mineral at the Kaliningrad Amber Combine, scientists have been able to identify about 600 species of various animals and plants that existed on the planet in ancient times.

Modern markets

Currently, the plant employs about 1,000 workers. The existing reserves of the mineral amount to more than 150 thousand tons; at the current level of production (approximately 300 tons in one year), such reserves should be enough for 500 years. In 2017, the plant plans to increase production volume by one and a half times, by this moment work is being carried out ahead of schedule.

A year ago, Acting Governor of the Kaliningrad Region A. Alikhanov called the enterprise’s three-year contract for the supply of 680 tons of mineral raw materials to China worth 10 billion rubles the most important deal. Approximately 50 percent of amber processing, according to the terms of the contract, must be carried out on Russian territory.

The general director of the plant, M. Zatsepin, indicated that the main development strategy of the enterprise until 2025 is the process of reconstruction and modernization, as well as the development of new forms of contacts with raw material processors, and the creation of an amber cluster on the basis of the plant. This year, the export of amber raw materials began, and there are serious plans for this area.

According to Zatsepin, such measures can restore the region’s leadership position in the world market for the production and sale of amber, as it was during the creation of the Great Amber Route from the Baltic countries to European states.