Those Places Thursday: Amber at the Balzekas Museum of Lithuanian Culture, Chicago

On our visit to the Balzekas Museum of Lithuanian Culture in Chicago back on August 8, 2017, we spent a lot of time in the Women's Guild Room, which featured Lithuanian folk arts, including items made with amber.

Amber (gintaras in Lithuanian), found on the shores of the Baltic Sea, is the national gem of Lithuania.  The legend of Jūratė and Kastytis tells of the sea goddess Jūratė falling in love with the human fisherman Kastytis, angering the thunder god Perkūnas.  In some versions of the story, he destroys her underwater Baltic Sea amber palace (so pieces of it wash ashore whenever there is a storm); in other versions,  Perkūnas kills Kastytis, and it is Jūratė's amber tear drops that wash ashore.

Besides a whole shelf of loose pieces, there were numerous amber jewelry items.

Above:  pieces of amber on display in the Women's Guild Room at the Balzekas Museum, Chicago

Below:  Amber collar necklace donated by Pranas Povilaitis, at the Balzekas Museum in Chicago

I really liked some of the mixed-media works made with pieces of amber on wood backgrounds.

The woven title at the bottom of this next picture "Kur bakūžė samanota" roughly translates to "Where is the Mossy Hut," the first line of a Lithuanian folk song.  I particularly like the old well in the picture.  

This last one is an image of Our Lady of the Gate of Dawn (Lithuanian: Aušros Vartų Dievo Motina) in the Lithuanian capital of Vilnius:

© Amanda Pape - 2018 - click here to e-mail me.