Amber is the fossilized wax of firs also called succinite. Ambers are transparent, honey colour, brown or dark red. Amber can be found in the wax of pine trees or in dripstones at the coasts of the Baltic Sea in Poland and Russia. Most of this amber generated in the Eocene, Oligocene and Miocene.

Around 40 million years ago, on the region of present Scandinavia and Baltic Sea pinewoods grew mainly on wide marshes. Wax necessary for the production of amber came from these woods. Rivers drove wax with other river shift to basins of which amber formed. A few million years later, amber was transported to Poland, Belarus, Lithuania, Latvia and Germany. It also reached Scandinavia and the Brit Isles via sea. Amber can be found at at least 600 locations. The most widely known ambers are the Baltic Amber (succinite), Dominican Amber, Sicilian Amber (simetite), Chiese Amber (birmite) and Hungarian Amber (ajkaite).

Amber often contain residue of plants or animals. Over 200 plants were established during morphological studies thus gaining picture of the most important planys present in the Eocene. Amber most often caught arthropoda. Over 2600 genera were established. Larger animals such as vertebrates were also found in amber.

Amber was already used even in the Palaeolithic and Mesolithic as souvenirs and ornament. Amber artisanship played a very significant role in society. The so-called "amber road" ran from the Balkan to amber manufacturers. The town of Sopron was located along this road. One of the most important collectors of amber is the Earth Museum of the Polish Academy of Sciences. Over 29500 ambers can be found in its collection. The material shown at the exhibition was selected from this collection. The exhibition was organized by the professor Barbara Kosmowska - Ceranowicz.