Amber has been called “the Gold of the Baltic”. After a thousand years of wandering through bygone forests and over many seas and waves, many pieces of amber have ended up in Darßer Bernsteinmuseum in Prerow.

As the autumn and winter storms rage on the Baltic Sea and send metre-high waves crashing against the dunes, the amber is washed out from the depths of the sea.

There are 300 different types of amber in the world. Those native to the Darß are called “Baltic amber”, reflecting the sea from which it came. Millions of years ago, the floor of what is now the Baltic was once covered with massive, sub-tropical forests which left behind resin that has become the amber of today.

The Modenhauer family in Prerow has dedicated an entire museum to these unique pieces of “gold”. Located on Waldstraße near the Darß-Museum, the Darßer Bernsteinmuseum offers detailed information about these treasures of nature and has many unusual pieces on display for you to admire. Whole swarms of insects and spiders from ancient times have even been preserved in these pieces of amber.

Some say the amber even has healing powers. It is still worn as a necklace by teething infants and even Martin Luther is said to have always carried a piece on his person. And the ancient Greeks believed that the sun itself is stored in the stones, which is why amber has also been called “sun stone”.