The Palanga name stems from the amber gemstone and its importance in defining prehistoric trade routes between Northern and Southern Europe. 

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Amber is a fascinating gemstone that has been collected and processed since the Stone Age. The meaning of an amber gemstone is "clearing" and includes energy circulation. It has been said that the energy in amber takes out negative energies.

 

Palanga is a seaside resort town in Western Lithuania, sitting on the shore of the Baltic Sea and facing the East coast of Southern Sweden. 

 

Lithuanian mythology, folklore, and art have long associations with the gemstone amber. The legend of Jurate and Kastytis imagines an undersea palace of amber under the Baltic, which was shattered by Perkunas, the God of Thunder. Its fragments were said to be the source of the amber that still washes up on the beaches nearby.

 

Amber workshops appeared in Palanga during the 17th century. By the end of the 18th century, Palanga was the center of the amber industry. 

 

Like silk, amber was one of the first gems used in long distance trades. As an important commodity, sometimes dubbed "the Gold of the North", amber was transported from the North Sea and Baltic Sea coasts overland by way of the Vistula and Dnieper rivers to Italy, Greece, the Black Sea, Syria and Egypt over a period of thousands of years.

 

The Amber Road defined prehistoric trade routes between Northern and Southern Europe. This stone was then carried to Asia by traders’ use of the Silk Road.

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