Images from Augustinus Meyerberg’s Journey 1661-1663: East Prussia
The diplomat Augustin Meyerberg conveyed his impressions of the journey to Moscow via the Curonian Spit, Klaipėda and Palanga in 1661-1663. His description of the expedition is one of the first attempts to visualize the expedition route in detail and to capture the images seen.
Meyerberg's description of the voyage is important for a better understanding of the mechanism of the publication of travel egodocuments and the development of a media product. Executing Emperor Leopold I's request to mediate negotiations between the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and Moscow, Meyerberg and his escort left Vienna on 17 February 1661. The route passed through German lands, Königsberg, the Curonian Spit, Klaipėda (Memel), Curonian Principality. It should be noted that in addition to the book Iter in Moschoviam (c. 1665, place of publication and publisher unidentified), Meyerberg's journey was recorded in a drawing album (the so-called Meyerberg Album, painter Johan Storn). Preserved in the Royal Library in Dresden, it was published in 1827 by Friedrich Adelung in German and Russian. In the album, we see pictures of current Lithuanian cities Klaipėda (Memel), Palanga, Šventoji.
Description of the pictures: Klaipėda (Memel), a fortress and town, known as the second key to Prussia, belongs to the Electorate of Brandenburg, and is located north of the confluence of the Curonian Lagoon and the Baltic Sea, three miles from Nagliai (Negeln). Most of the castle's interior was burnt down in 1660. There is a fishermen's market here and the people speak German, Curonian, Polish and Lithuanian (No 140); Palanga: a Samogitian merchant town in Lithuania, belonging to the King of Poland, is three miles from Memel.
The first customs office is located here, the second in Sventoji and the third in Kretinga. All three customs bring in 10 000 German guilders annually, which are deducted for the Queen of Poland (No 93); Šventoji, a Samogitian village in Lithuania, belonging to the King of Poland, is located two miles away from Palanga (No 94); the Šventoji River. It is within pistol-shot of the border point where Curonian Spit begins and Lithuania ends. Here you have to change [carriages]. As soon as we crossed the river we were respectfully met by the commissioners of the Duchy of Courland with three carriages (No 95).
Sources: Iter in Moschoviam Augustini Liberi Baronis de Mayerberg, Camerae Imperialis Aulicae Consiliarii, et Horatii Gulielmi Caluuccii, Equitis, ac in Regimine Interioris Austriae Consiliarii ab Augustissimo Romanorum Imperatore Leopoldo, ad tzarem magnum ducem Alexium Michalowicz Anno MDCLXI, [s.a., s. l] [1664, 1665, 1675, 1680]; Friedrich Adelung, Augustin Freiherr von Meyerberg und seine Reise nach Russland Nebst Einer Von Ihm auf dieser Reise veranstalteten Sammlung von Ansichten, Gebräuchen, Bildnissen u.s.w., St. Petersburg, 1827; Путешествие в Московию барона Августина Майерберга и Горация Вильгельма Кальвуччи, послов Августейшего Римского Императора Леопольда к Царю и Великому Князю Алексею Михайловичу в 1661 году, описанное самим бароном Майербергом, Москва 1874; Альбом Мейерберга. Виды и бытовые картины России XVII века: Рисунки Дрезденского альбома, воспроизведенные с подлинника в натуральную величину, с приложением карты пути Цесарского посольства 1661–62 гг. Объяснительные примечания к рисункам составлены Ф. Аделунгом, вновь просмотрены и дополнены А. М. Ловягиным, С.-Петербург 1903.
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