| In 1980, after the restoration
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of Villa Bentz, it was decided to expose the fossil collection, which was
too important to have hidden it in a safe. At the same time, Brandt
Ghepart appeared, American paleontólogist, museólogist, that had worked
for fifteen years in the museum of natural history of Cleveland, USA, man
of much sensitivity, artist with multiple capacities, as well in the
fields of the painting and music: he plays the flute, violin, arp and
drums. Brandt arrived in Puerto Plata like solitary navigator with his
small yacht. She was born immediately affection and mutual understanding
between Brandt and the family Coast and given the importance of the
collection shared the idea to make a suitable work.
Brandt, conquered by the
variety of amber with his insects, leaves, flowers, conserved perfectly in
the prehistoric resin, as if outside a magical box, sold his boat and
Silver settled down in Port, and took the decision to form the museum
dreamed by several years by Doña Didi.
The meticulous work of
preparation, cataloguing, study of the ground and subsoil, selection of
stones with its photographies or drawings done with the aid of the
microscope lasted two years. The way was studied to link stones with metal
thread in gold bath, work handmade for greater resistance and lights were
used you cold not to damage stones, and were made macro-photos with aid of
a put camera upon the microscope.
The museum, dream of many years
with a sense of exectancy, was opened in March of 1982. The collection was
composed of thousands of pieces, allyhough all is not exhibited. Some are
very beautiful and very rare. Of the exhibited ones, the most studied
and appreciated is a lizard of 40 centimeters in a state of perfect
conservation that dates from about 30 to 40 million years ago. The lizard
is included in an amber piece with a length of
42,5 centimeters.
One
extraordinary piece is formed with the drops of a resin falling after the
other, forming little tubes that seem like needles of
coniferous.
The fame of the Museum of
Dominican Amber spread outside The Dominican Republic. The international
tourguides mentioned it as a place of cultural interest, and the museum
grew by visitors very fast. Today a visit at the museum is as natural as
the beach for the visitor.
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