The great Amber room appeared in Russia back in 1716 as a gift to Peter I from the King of Prussia Frederick William I. This way the head of the western country wanted to celebrate peace between his state and Russia and cementing their alliance against Sweden. The panels made of several tons of gorgeous gemstone, which are often referred to as the Eighth Wonder of the World, suffered a very unhappy fate – after more than two centuries of contented “life” in Russia they were stolen by Nazis during World War II and since that very time the original creation has been missing, though, by the 300 anniversary of St. Petersburg Russian craftsmen managed to restore the masterpiece, which is an exact copy of the stolen room. The new version cost 11 million dollars it took 25 years of hard work. That is the story in a nutshell, if you want to know its details, follow me…
The first elements of the room were made fifteen years before in came to Russia. It was designed by German sculptor Andreas Schlüter, who worked in a baroque style, and when the whole creation was ready, the panels were installed at Charlottenburg Palace, where Friedrich I lived. When Peter I was visiting the palace, he loved the yellow room, and very soon got it as a gift. For this the Russian Emperor gave him 55 giant grenadiers from his army.
In 1755 the Empress Elizabeth decided that the room should be moved from the Winter House to Tsarskoye Selo, or “Czar’s Village”, a summer residence of the court. The panels were to be installed in the Catherine Palace, but the space was larger than the previous one, and the room had to be made bigger. It was really magical and fabulous with six tones of amber and other stones – the panels covered as much as 180 square feet of royal walls and were sparking with all shades of yellow – lemon, pear, honey, mustard, apricot, golden, saffron yellow and many others.
This art piece was one of the most precious items in the emperor collection, and of course, it couldn’t avoid greedy eyes of those who wanted to take it for personal use. Germans believed that it was totally theirs and yet before WWII began, Hitler aimed at the Amber Room as well as many other art treasures. The war let him off the leash, and soon after the invasion of the Nazis the Room left Russia forever. The soldiers who came to take it away packed the great panels just in blink of an eye, and transported to Königsberg. There the room was reinstalled in one of the local museums and people enjoyed its beauty for some time, not a long time, though. When the city got bombed in 1944, the museum was destroyed and we lost the trace of it.
Of course, lots of amber couldn’t just melt. Many researchers believe that it was stolen then hidden somewhere or even sold to private collections. Some of them even say that Joseph Stalin had another Amber Room and installed fake panels at the palace, from where Germans took them. Some parts of the Room were found in Germany, but the seller didn’t know the origin of the item, as he inherited it from his father, a soldier. Now, being well informed about how precious the Room is, please, study the photos very carefully and call the police if you see these pieces anywhere. Or steal them, sell on the black market and be one of the richest people in the world:)