Molėtai Regional Museum

Lecture

Lecture: Symbolism of Baltic jewelry: through form to content

Lecture on the meanings of forms and symbols of Baltic jewelry ornaments.
Baltic art is mostly known from found jewelry. A lot of jewelry has been preserved in tombs, they were made of precious and non-ferrous metals, glass and minerals, which once decorated the necks, hands or clothing of the noblest persons in Lithuania. Jewelry was made of strong materials. As a rule, their purpose was ritual or functional, so the artistic expression was associated with other cultural phenomena: mythology, religion, rites. The surviving ethnographic heritage of the Balts reveals the traditions of many applied arts and clothing decorations that were formed in previous centuries, which will be revealed by archaeologist Daiva Steponavičienė.