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Sunday, April 29, 2012

Virtual Paintout - Gdansk - April 2012

I was impressed by this massive structure in countless shades of red brick on a square in Gdansk and completed the above drawing before discovering it was the "Muzeum Bursztynu". Further research led me to realise that bursztyn was actually the Polish word for "amber" - that souvenir stone I brought back on a necklace when I visited Poland ten years ago. Aside from jewelry, the museum also has a collection of insects found in amber. It turns out that amber is "fossilised tree resin" so the insects must have gotten trapped in the resin before it turned to stone. This fits in well with the other section of the museum, which relates to the building's long ago use as a prison tower and torture chamber!

Here is the Google Street View image that inspired the above drawing: LINK

"Muzeum Bersztynu"
21x29.5cm, colored pencil on paper