Amber Room
The Amber Room (German Bernsteinzimmer) was a complete chamber decoration of amber panels backed with gold leaf and mirrors. Due to its singular beauty, it was sometimes dubbed "The Eighth Wonder of the World." Estimates have placed the room's value at over US$100Million.
It was made in 1701 at the Berlin castle of the king of Prussia. Tsar Peter the Great on a visit came to admire it and it was presented to him by Prussian king Friedrich Wilhelm I in 1716. In 1755 it was transferred by tsarina Catherine the Great and installed in the Catherine Palace in Tsarskoye Selo, near St. Petersburg.
Shortly after the beginning of Operation Barbarossa in World War II, the Amber Room was hidden behind mundane wallpaper to keep Nazi forces from seizing it. These attempts failed, however, when Nazis disassebled the fragile Amber Room and moved it to a castle in Königsberg for display. Königsberg was very heavily bombarded by British forces, then destroyed further by the Soviets. The Bernsteinzimmer was never seen again, though reports have occasionally surfaced stating that components of the Amber Room survived the war.
There are conflicting reports that the Amber Room was destroyed by bombing, buried not far from Berlin, smuggled onto a Nazi ship or submarine which was sunk by Allied forces, or hidden near the Baltic Sea.
In 1979 a reconstruction effort began, based largely on black and white photographs of the original Amber Room. Financial difficulties were helped with money donated by a German agency and in 2003 the new Bernsteinzimmer was dedicated by Russian President Vladimir Putin and German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder at the 300-year anniversary of the city of St. Petersburg.
In Kleinmachnow near Berlin is a miniature Bernsteinzimmer, fabricated after the original. The Berlin miniature collector Ulla Klingbeil had this copy made of original East Prussian amber. The exhibit fee at Europarc Dreilinden is donated to the Arilex-Verein (foundation) to aid handicapped children.