Autumn Brings "Baltic Gold" Rush to Poland

As autumn arrives on Poland's Baltic coast, the first storms of the season are churning up a prehistoric treasure on the sandy shore. Here, amber is worth about 13 dollars a gram, which explains why some people refer to it as "Baltic gold."

Published

6 months ago

Categories

Arts & Society

Topics

Europe, Arts & Culture

Places

Poland, Krakow, Baltic Sea

Transcript

SCRIPT: In November, amber hunters scour the beaches along Poland's Baltic Sea coast. Wlodek Janowski has been fishing out this fossilised resin known locally as 'Baltic Gold' for forty years. A gold rush of sorts comes as the first autumn storms wash up amber, from the sea floor onto the shore. SOUNDBITE 1 : Wlodek Janowski, Amber trader (Polish, 17 sec): "It's a good day's catch! This piece will sell for 80 zloty and these for about 50 a piece, and that big one will be at least 150. If you find two or three pieces weighing 200 or 300 grams each, its a few thousand zloty in just one day." But the amber collected by hunters like Janowski is just a fraction of what the market needs. Poland's Baltic port city of Gdansk is the world's amber capital, and demand here for this ancient treasure is high. Most of the amber in this jewellery shop is imported from the nearby Russian enclave of Kaliningrad. But these gems are entirely crafted in Gdansk, where expertise in amber work stretches back to before the Middle Ages. SOUNDBITE 2 : Mariusz Gliwinski, "Amber Moda" Gallery owner (Polish, 14 sec): "The tradition of amber work was totally lost under communism in the former Soviet countries but even then in Poland the amber workshops were preserved. Even though access to amber was limited, craftsmen could still develop their skills and traditions." In Gdansk, this man is known as the king of amber. At 66, Lucjan Myrta has devoted his life to working wonders with Baltic gold. In total, he's transformed over three hundred tonnes of raw amber into priceless works of art. His piece de resistance is this Biblically-themed treasure chest. At nearly 3 metres high, and weighing in at eight tonnes, it took 12 years to complete. SOUNDBITE 3 : Lucjan Myrta, Artist (Polish, 14 sec): "No other material has such a rich variety of tones and colours. Amber has more than 300 variations! Amber is the hero of my work. It decides for me what I'll do, it shapes my ideas and the designs I create." Having already been on exhibition in Poland's historic southern city of Krakow, plans are now afoot to see Myrta's entire collection on display in Russia, before future stops, possibly in Saudi Arabia and France. SHOTLIST: GDANSK, MIKOSZEWO, November 13, 2012 - An amber hunter in action along the Baltic Sea on a beach Mikoszewo near Gdansk SOUNDBITE 1 - Wlodek Janowski goes 'amber fishing' - A seller of amber jewelry in Gdansk - Raw amber is transformed into jewellery in a workshop in Sopot, Gdansk region - The owner of the gallery "Amber Moda" examines raw amber pieces SOUNDBITE 2 - Lucjan Myrta sitting next to his selfportrait done in amber - Lucjan Myrta presents amber treasure chest it took him 12 years to create SOUNDBITE 3 - Lucjan Myrta shows his collections - Illustrations of Lucjan Myrta's art