Amber Room
The Amber Room (German Bernsteinzimmer), made for Frederick I of Prussia 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$100 million.
It was made in 1701 at Charlottenburg, the Berlin palace of the king of Prussia, but did not remain in place for long. Tsar Peter the Great on a visit came to admire it and it was presented to him by Friedrich Wilhelm I in 1716, cementing a Prussian-Russian alliance against Sweden. In 1755 it was transferred by tsarina Catherine the Great and installed, first in the Winter Palace then in the Catherine Palace at Tsarskoye Selo, near St. Petersburg. From Berlin, Frederick II the Great sent her more Baltic amber from Berlin to piece out the originals in the new design by Catherine's Italian court architect, Francesco Rastrelli.
The Amber Room was further renovated several times more, and in its final form covered more that 55 square meters. It contained over six tonnes of amber and took over ten years to construct.
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 disassembled 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.
Reproductions
In 1979 a reconstruction effort began, based largely on black and white photographs of the original Amber Room. The reconstructed room is in the restored Catherine Palace, located 25km (15 miles) from St. Petersburg. 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.