The Kaliningrad Amber Integrated Plant belonging to the State Corporation “Rostec” is the world leader in mining amber (90% of the world’s reserves of the Baltic gem are concentrated at the Primorsky Quarry).
The Moscow Representative Office of the Kaliningrad Amber Integrated Plant occupies the ground and first floors of a historic building on famous Stary (Old) Arbat Street. In addition to the Kaliningrad Amber Plant’s Representative Office, there is a company store selling amber jewellery and souvenirs, as well as the Amber Gallery’s rooms that house the amber collections brought here from the Kaliningrad Amber Integrated Plant’s reserve stock.
In April, the Amber Gallery was reopened after a major renovation.
Maria Zhuravel, Head of the Moscow Representative Office of the Kaliningrad Amber Integrated Plant, told Rough&Polished about its Moscow branch and its plans, about the renovated Amber Gallery, the peculiar features of the Baltic gem and amber-studded jewellery.
What does the Moscow Representative Office of the Kaliningrad Amber Integrated Plant do and what are your functions as its director?
The main task of the Moscow Representative Office is to promote amber goods and the Kaliningrad Amber Integrated Plant in general, within the framework of the amber industry development strategy. I see my main function as telling the people about the beauty and value of the Baltic gem and, of course, following all the important processes. Moscow is a capital and a big city, and it is easier to maintain existing connections and establish new ones in Moscow.
The Representative Office was opened in Moscow much earlier than the Amber Gallery was set up. Our first store was located at the Chinese Business Centre “Greenwood”. But pretty soon, it became clear that interest in our goods is growing, and it is inconvenient for most people to go to the small town of Khimki in the immediate environs of Moscow. It was decided to move our Representative Office to Stary Arbat, a very busy Moscow pedestrian street. The idea to open a museum on the ground floor appeared as soon as a decision came to rent a two-storied building in the old rental house earlier owned by entrepreneur A. K. Echkin. And on May 18, 2020, on the International Museum Day, the Amber Gallery was open for visitors.
What has changed after the reconstruction?
The museum was reconstructed because the building was heavily flooded by our neighbours, and only the exhibits and a couple of multimedia facilities were not damaged. But significant changes have taken place - the new space has become brighter, the space in the centre of the halls now allows to host excursion groups of up to 25 people. Previously, it was possible to host excursion groups of up to 10 people only.
The logic of the expositions was changed at the museum as a whole, new multimedia facilities, complex installations and interactive zones were equipped. The exposition shows the history of the Kaliningrad Amber Integrated Plant and gives an idea about the origin of rare gems with inclusions. In the “Primorsky Quarry” section, an interactive format is used to provide insight into the technologies used for mining and processing amber, the visitors can get to know how to distinguish real natural samples from imitations, and even have a chance to polish amber on their own using a special mechanical drum.
What is your attitude to amber - what is its value?
Two years ago, when I was invited to work at the Kaliningrad Amber Integrated Plant, I treated amber as an uninteresting ‘grandmother’s’ gem. But the more I learned about amber, the more I fell in love with this amazing gem having a long history. This is a warm, sunny gem that can be amazingly beautiful and is also useful for humans because long ago, Hippocrates and Avicenna spoke about the healing properties of fossilized resin. The healing properties of amber tincture, acid and oil are used to treat almost all diseases - from migraines to cancer. Amber oil and powder are effectively used in cosmetology. And amber jewellery is beautiful!
Now, I try to be active as an influencer (as they say now) and I promote the goods manufactured at the Kaliningrad Amber Integrated Plant. I love amber very much and I can integrate it into anything.
Image credit: Kaliningrad Amber Integrated Plant
Tell us about the rare exhibits of the Amber Gallery. Do you have your favourite exhibit(s)?
All our exhibits are rare. :) You can see such amber exhibits at just a few museums around the world, one of them is the museum complex at our plant in the village of Yantarny, the Kaliningrad Region. In our exposition, there are unique things like nuggets, amber ‘drops’, amber pieces with organic and inorganic inclusions and rare products produced by the Integrated Plant from the 1950s. My favourite exhibits are a multimedia facility where amber pieces with inclusions are displayed - which allows visitors to view inclusions as close as possible on a large screen - and a scanner telling about amber processing techniques, which allows visitors to look into the very core of the production cycle - the jewellery production workshop.
A large amber sample weighing 1,796 grammes is among the unique exhibits. In nature, amber ‘heavyweights’ are extremely rare. Record-breaking large drop-shaped nuggets weighing 218 and 124 grammes are among the rare samples. For comparison, the collection of our enterprise contains only about 100 samples of rare drop-shaped amber pieces, and the largest of them weigh 30-50 grammes.
What distinguishes amber studded jewellery? How did the design of amber jewellery change?
They are not particularly different, amber can be cut and polished the same way as a diamond. Design changes with fashion. There is a huge breakthrough now when after many years of stagnation, the Kaliningrad Amber Integrated Plant began to produce truly stylish and modern jewellery.
Image credit: Kaliningrad Amber Integrated Plant
The Kaliningrad Amber Integrated Plant actively promotes amber using various events. What is your opinion of them?
We keep on developing in different directions. For example, we take part in Russian and international exhibitions, we hold the International Amber Economic Forum for the sixth year in a row, we organize fashion shows to integrate amber goods into modern designs, we recently have opened the Amber Fashion House in Kaliningrad, and we are busy actively developing the industrial tourism together with our parent organization, the state corporation “Rostec”.
What are the plans of the Amber Gallery and the Moscow Representative Office of the Kaliningrad Amber Integrated Plant?
The Amber Gallery’s short-term plans include working with Moscow schools and specialized educational platforms, organizing tours and workshop sessions. The Moscow Representative Office believes that now is not the time to rest and we will go the extra mile to open new stores and give a chance to our customers to enjoy the stunning beauty of our amber jewellery and goods.
Galina Semyonova for Rough&Polished
