The Museum of Amber Inclusions at the University of Gdansk has operated since June 1998 as a laboratory at the Department of Invertebrate Zoology. The Museum was established upon the initiative of its current director, Prof. Ryszard Szadziewski, who donated his private collection of amber inclusions to the newly-established institution. Further exhibits were donated by amber jewellers and private collectors. Today, with almost 13,000 animal inclusions, the Museum boasts the second largest (after the Museum of the Earth of the Polish Academy of Sciences (PAN) in Warsaw) collection of inclusions in Poland. Furthermore, thanks to the Museum's collaboration with the International Amber Association, it has the technical facilities necessary for professional amber treatment.
The exhibition dedicated to plant, animal and inorganic inclusions, the origin of Baltic amber, its natural colour varieties and other fossil resins may be seen at the Biology, Geography and Oceanography building (the Museum has got no premises of its own). The most valuable specimens include two gastropod shells: the only class in phylum Mollusca preserved in amber, and a slough of a lizard, which is one of the rare instances of vertebrate inclusions in Baltic amber.
The exhibition dedicated to Eocene invertebrates from the collection of the Museum of Amber Inclusions can also be seen at the Palaeontological Gallery at the Amberif International Fair of Amber, Jewellery and Gemstones in Gdansk, run in partnership with the Palaeoentomological Section of the Polish Entomological Society. The Museum also keeps a stand at the Ambermart International Amber Fair, where it presents an exhibition dedicated to inclusions. Furthermore, during both Amberif and Ambermart, the staff of the University of Gdansk and other scientists who are the guests of the Gallery provide information on amber and the inclusions trapped in it.
The chief aims of the Museum of Amber Inclusions are to collect, preserve and perform research on plant, animal and inorganic inclusions in amber and to collect amber's natural varieties and forms. Dipteran inclusions are examined by the staff of the University of Gdansk's Department of Invertebrate Zoology, while other inclusions are made available to scientists from other research institutions in Poland and abroad.
