Latvia has always been related to Europe territorially; not only has it been involved in the European cultural processes, it has also been the home of fashion trends. That has mainly been due to amber – the jewel of the Baltic Sea.
Baltic Sea amber is well known since very ancient times: during the Paleolithic the processing of amber on the south-west seashore of the Baltic Sea in Denmark and Germany was very developed. Amber has been known in the territory of Latvia since the end of the early Neolithic (approximately the second half of the 4th century AC). Amber washed ashore at that time can still be found in the territories of former lagoons of Latvia on the seashore of Kurzeme.
During this period, centres for processing amber flourished in the Baltics, also in Latvia, and they were capable of supplying large areas with their production. Symbolically the seashore of the Baltic Sea at that time could be compared to the countries of the Persian Gulf nowadays – the most economically developed and richest countries in the world due to oil. During the Stone Age, the Baltic amber processing centres exchanged amber for high quality materials from elsewhere, such as the flint of Valdai and the shale of Karelia, to make tools of very high quality. Amber was treated as a jewel and was the most valuable export good. Lubāna Lake and seashore settlements were setting fashion trends all over Eastern Europe. The distribution area of the production made in these settlements was confined by the Arctic circle on the one side and the Middle Dnieper on the other. The art of processing amber was very highly developed. This has mostly been manifested in the zoomorphic and anthropomorphic figures. A figure of an elk found in the Sārnate settlement that has retained its head is comparable to the world art masterpieces of the epoch.
Amber had a mythical significance as well. It was sewed to clothes, used in ornaments, put into graves along with the deceased.
Amber ornaments still retain their place in the Latvian lifestyle until this very day. Time has not changed the material but types of ornaments have changed along with time and fashion. Heavy strings of beads with precisely processed egg-shaped beads were popular in the second quarter of the 20th century. In the second half of the 20th century amber ornaments served to a certain extent as an acknowledgement of Latvian taste while living in the Soviet time.
Amber ornaments have always been and still are a popular souvenir with foreigners as an evidence of the Latvian culture, thus amber ornaments are also conveying a message about Latvians to the world.
The exhibition is a thematic message revealing the spread of amber, the Baltic Sea area as amber crossroads, the amber road and cultures involved, as well as amber in mythology and folklore.