The L. Kronenberg Bank Foundation financed the purchase of "Gierlowska Lizard" - one of the most interesting and valuable items in the new Amber Museum in Gdansk. The exhibit, presented to journalists during a press conference, is the first lizard found in the Baltic amber for more than a century. The lizard is locked in a conical-shaped nugget of see-through amber. The nugget is completely natural; it has never been subjected to any chemical or thermal procedures.
During the press conference Pawel Adamowicz, the President of Gdansk and Adam Koperkiewicz, director of the new museum, said that all museum visitors would be able to learn about the history of amber and its usage. Thanks to the application of numerous multi-media techniques, visitors would be transported into the world of oceans or forests, back to the time when amber was still resin. Museum's visitors would be able to learn about the collection and mining of amber, see the history of its major trading routes, see that amber can be used as medication, as research material and as raw material for artists' works.
As Krzysztof Kaczmar, Foundation director said, cooperation with the Amber Museum is another initiative performed in Gdansk by The Citi Handlowy Leopold Kronenberg Foundation. The Foundation has already supported the Gdansk library, financing the project "Conservation of unique maps of Gdansk from the years 1940-1942." It has also participated in the organization of the "Land of Creativity" workshops for children and youth organized by the Center for Contemporary Art. The Foundation has also supported the "Theater - Education - Rehabilitation" Cultural Association of the Blind. In Gdansk, it allocated 33 subsidies totaling to PLN 661,595. Since 1996, it has granted 103 subsidies totaling PLN 1,634,490 in the Pomerania, Warmia and Mazury and Kujawsko-Pomorskie provinces.
The activities of The Citi Handlowy Leopold Kronenberg Foundation include educational programs, especially in the area of economic education; awards, scholarships and competitions; employee volunteer programs, partnership programs, conferences, seminars and subsidies for scientific publications. The Citi Handlowy Leopold Kronenberg Foundation is a vehicle through which Citibank Handlowy executes its corporate social responsibility strategy.
