The Mysterious Amber Room
The Amber Room was created from 1701 to 1709 in Prussia 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. The Amber Room, completed in 1711 after a decade of work, was installed in a palace the Czar built for his wife, Catherine I, outside St Petersburg. The Amber Room was originally built in the third suite of apartments in the Great Catherine Palace.
The Amber Room was first opened in 1746 in The Winter Palace, where it was housed till 1755; that year it was moved to the summer residence of the Russian Emperors at Tsarskoe Syolo. The Amber Room, so-called for its ornate amber panels, was kept in Russia for more than 200 years, before it was looted by the Nazis during the Second World War. The Amber Room was a series of large wall panels inlaid with several tons of masterfully carved high-quality amber, long wall mirrors and four Florentine mosaics.
German troops invading the Soviet Union seized the Room in 1941. The invasion led to the looting of tens of thousands of art treasures, including the illustrious Amber Room, which the Nazis believed was made by Germans and, most certainly, made for Germans. Shortly after the beginning of the German invasion of the Soviet Union in World War II (Operation Barbarossa), the curators responsible for removing the art treasures in Leningrad tried to disassemble and remove the Amber Room.
They then packed the contents of the Amber Room into 27 crates before destroying the palace and taking the Amber Room to the German city of K�nigsberg, near the Baltic Sea. Its treasures and amber panels were spirited away to Germany, but the exact location of it was lost in the chaos that engulfed Germany at the end of the war.
If all the past claims are to be believed, the Amber Room has turned up periodically in Germany, and also in Lithuania.
Dismantled by the Nazis, the Amber Room has taken on a mythic place in history. History works wonders: the Germans built the Amber Room, gave it to Russia as a gift, eventually took it, and the circle now comes full with the Germans paying for the Amber Room's reconstruction. The Amber Room history is symbolic of the ups and downs in the relationships between Germans and Russians, and let this history end with the up. Many commentators see the Amber Room's history as symbolic of Russo-German relations.
The mystery of the Amber Room has been the basis for the plot of several films, books and art exhibitions. The mystery of its resting place has fuelled 50 years of hunting, debating and conspiracy theorising. Just like any other mystery, the story of the Amber Room has attracted some pretty dubious theories on its disappearance. The original room was looted by Nazi besiegers during the Second World War and disappeared in the dying years of the war, creating an enduring mystery.
But, wherever it went, to this day not a single trace of the wonderful Amber Room has been found and the mystery continues. Much mystery surrounds the fate of the amber room panels, and many Russians believe that they still exist somewhere in Germany.
The Amber Room was one of the most magnificent and mysterious masterpieces in Russia. The amber room is believed to be worth in excess of $250m and is without a doubt the world's greatest lost treasure.
Reportedly, since late seventies of the 20th century the reconstruction of The Amber Room has been carried on at Tsarskoe Syolo (later renamed Pushkino) under the supervision of Alexander Zhuravlow. A replica of the Amber Room is on display in the Catherine Palace, St. Petersburg The Amber Room was opened with an emotional ceremony, and major press across Europe, last May. The Amber Room currently on display is a replica, and draws tourists from around the world.