Exhibition "Journey Beyond"

About exhibition

The exhibition, presented in chronological order, showcases all sections of the region's ancient history, from the appearance here in the Late Paleolithic of the first reindeer-hunting people to the conquest and colonization of the Prussian lands by the knights of the Teutonic Order. The display includes household items, weapons, coins and jewelry from various eras. Many of these are examples of a high artistic culture. As the encyclopedist Bartholomew the Englishman wrote of the Prussians in the first half of the 13th century: "...compared with other barbarians, handsome in body, brave in spirit, surpasses all neighboring peoples in talent, art and crafts." At the "Journey Beyond" exhibition a wide audience can see unique archaeological finds: carved bone saddle plates from the Viking era with ornaments of sacred meaning; a miraculously preserved wooden flask from the 12th century; a collection of jewelry from the 9th–12th centuries. In addition, visitors can see a restored silver fitting from a saddle bow dating to the late 5th–early 6th centuries AD. This artifact was discovered in 2008 on the territory of the Mitino burial ground (Guryevsky District) by one of the teams of the Sambian Expedition of the Institute of Archaeology, Russian Academy of Sciences. Previously, finds of this kind of saddle detail in East Prussia were not known.