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The original Amber Room

Before it was lost, the original Amber Room represented a joint effort of German and Russian craftsmen. Construction of the Amber Room began in 1701 to 1709 in Prussia.

The room was designed by German baroque sculptor Andreas Schlüter and constructed by the Danish amber craftsman Gottfried Wolfram and remained at Charlottenburg Palace until 1716 when it was given by Prussian king Friedrich Wilhelm I to his then ally, Tsar Peter the Great of the Russian Empire. In Russia it was expanded and after several renovations, it covered more than 55 square meters and contained over six tons of amber.

The Amber Room was reportedly looted during World War II by Nazi Germany and brought to Königsberg. Knowledge of its whereabouts was lost in the chaos at the end of the war. In 1979 efforts began to rebuild the Amber room at Tsarskoye Selo. In 2003, after decades of work by Russian craftsmen, the reconstructed Amber Room was inaugurated in the Catherine Palace in Saint Petersburg, Russia.

The recreated Amber Room

The Amber Room (sometimes called 'Amber Chamber', and in Russian: Янтарная комната Yantarnaya komnata, German: Bernsteinzimmer) is in the Catherine Palace of Tsarskoye Selo near Saint Petersburg.

The reconstruction began in 1979 and was completed 25 years and $11million later. Dedicated by Russian President Vladimir Putin and then-German Chancellor Gerhard Schroder, the new room marked the 300 year anniversary of St. Petersburg in a unifying ceremony that echoed the peaceful sentiment behind the original.

The room remains on display to the public at the Tsarskoye Selo State Museum Reserve outside of St. Petersburg.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



 

 

Interesting links:

A Brief History of the Amber Room.
Dubbed the "Eighth Wonder of the World," the room that once symbolized peace was stolen by Nazis then disappeared for good.

"Construction of the Amber Room began in 1701. It was originally installed at Charlottenburg Palace, home of Friedrich I, the first King of Prussia. Truly an international collaboration, the room was designed by German baroque sculptor Andreas Schluter and constructed by the Danish amber craftsman Gottfried Wolfram. Peter the Great admired the room on a visit, and in 1716 the King of Prussia - then Frederick William I - presented it to the Peter as a gift, cementing a Prussian-Russian alliance."
Read the full article here

 

'Priceless' Amber Room of the Tsars, looted and hidden by the Nazis, is 'found' by Russian treasure hunter

The Amber Room of the Tsars - one of the greatest missing treasures of WW2 that was looted by the Nazis during their invasion of the Soviet Union - may have been found.

A Russian treasure hunter is currently excavating in the enclave of Kaliningrad where he has discovered a World War II era bunker that the local German high command used in the battle for the city in 1945.

If Sergei Trifonov is correct then he has solved one of the greatest riddles left over from the war - and will make himself into a multi-millionaire. 

The room was seized by the marauding Germans during their onslaught on Russia in 1941.  Prussian count Sommes Laubach, the Germans' 'art protection officer' and holder of a degree in art history, supervised the room's transport to Koenigsberg Castle in what was then East Prussia.

In January 1945, after air raids and a savage ground assault on the city, the room was lost.  Ever since the Amber Room has become the new El Dorado, a quest that enthralled the wealthy and the poor alike.

The Maigret author Georges Simenon founded the Amber Room Club to track it down once and for all. Everyone had a different theory of what might have befallen the work.

The German official in charge of the amber shipment said the crates were in a castle that burned down in an air raid.

Others think the room sank to the bottom of the Baltic Sea in a torpedoed steamer used by the Nazis, or that it was hacked up by Red Army troops and sent home like sticks of rock as souvenirs of their conquest.

Historian Trifonov, however, believes he has solved the riddle and that the treasure lies in the bunker 40 feet down in the soil of Koenigsberg.

'Believe me or not, it's there, 12 metres down in the sub-soil,' he said, pointing to the entrance of a bunker that sheltered the Nazi high command in the last hours of the Battle of Koenigsberg.

Königsberg, in what was then German East Prussia, is now Kaliningrad, the capital of Russia's westernmost region of the same name.

Read the full article here




 

THE RUSSIAN 'AMBER ROOM'
'The Eighth Wonder of the World'

In 1716, the King of Prussia presented the Amber Room, a masterpiece of Baroque art, to Russian Czar Peter the Great.
Catherine the Great later commissioned a new generation of craftsmen to embellish the room and moved it from the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg to her new summer abode in Tsarskoye Selo, just outside the city.
"When the work was finished, in 1770, the room was dazzling," wrote art historians Konstantin Akinsha and Grigorii Kozlov. "It was illuminated by 565 candles whose light was reflected in the warm gold surface of the amber and sparkled in the mirrors, gilt, and mosaics."


The original Amber Room at Tsarskoe Syolo in Russia, 1940.

This opulent gesture of friendship between Russians and Germans would come to serve as a potent symbol of their divisions. When Hitler invaded the Soviet Union in 1941, his troops overran Tsarskoye Selo, dismantled the panels of the oversized jewel box, packed them up in 27 crates, and shipped them to Königsberg, Germany (today's Kaliningrad). In January 1945, after air raids and a savage ground assault on the city, the room's trail was lost.


Replica of the Amber Room created in 2003.

It was said of the original Amber Room that when the daylight was shining through the wide windows, it replaced hundreds of lighting candles and created thousands of reflections in the mirrors. This connection of light and amber gave the Amber Room in the Catherine Palais its special appearance. This light made the multicoloured Amber walls shine more beautiful than gold and created a deeply lasting impression on every visitor.


The recreated Amber Room.

Crafted entirely out of amber, gold and precious stones, the room made of numerous panels was a masterpiece of baroque art and widely regarded as the world's most important art treasure.

When its 565 candles were lit the Amber Room was said to 'glow a fiery gold'.  It is estimated to be worth around £150million, but many consider it priceless.


The recreated Amber Room.

Detail of the recreated Amber Room.