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The Amber Room. As seen before WWII. Photo credit: Wikipedia
The Baltic region is known to contain huge deposits of amber. In fact, some estimates claim up to 80% of the world’s supply of the fossilized tree resin is located there. Its warm, golden glow is prized by artists and collectors alike. The highest quality of amber has been used for ornamental and jewelry production since Neolithic times.
Perhaps the best known and inspired use of amber was the creation of the Amber Room in 1709 by designer Andreas Schluter and amber craftsman Gottfried Wolfram.
Upon completion, the Amber Room was proudly displayed at the Charlottenberg Palace in Prussia. It was considered a true masterpiece. During a visit to Prussia in 1712, Czar Peter the Great of Russia confided in King Friedrich Wilhelm I on how much he adored this stunning room. In order to cement an alliance against Sweden, King Wilhelm I presented the Amber Room as a gift to Czar Peter the Great. The royal gift was shipped over water to Russia in 18 large boxes in 1716.
Once in Russia, the Amber Room was further built upon and renovated. In its final form in 1763, the Amber Room spanned 55 meters and contained over six tons of amber. It was located in the Catherine Palace of St. Petersburg and admired by the lucky few who were able to see it. The feeling one would get visiting the Amber Room can be described as the following:
“When the daylight was shining through the wide windows, it replaced hundreds of lighting candles and created thousands of reflections in the mirrors. This light made multicolored Amber walls shine more beautiful than gold and created a deeply lasting impression never forgotten by any visitor.”
Most words cannot describe the awe someone would feel while in this room. In fact, many considered the Amber Room the “Eighth Wonder of the World”.
The Amber Room would stay in Saint Petersburg (known as Leningrad at this time) until 1941. In that year, Germany invaded the Soviet Union in Operation Barbarossa. As part of the occupation on Soviet territory, the acquisition of all arts and treasures back to Germany was of highest priority.
When Leningrad (formerly St. Petersburg) was about to fall to German forces in 1941, efforts to transport the Amber Room to a safer location failed. The dried and fragile amber would crumble when handled. The only course of action for the curators in saving the room was to place wallpaper over the amber walls and disguise it as any other typical room.
This fooled no one as the Germans were well aware of the location of the Amber Room. Within 36 hours, the Amber Room was dismantled and placed inside 27 crates on 18 trucks. It was transported to Königsberg castle in East Prussia, where it was reassembled and opened for exhibition in March, 1942.
The war would not stay in Germany’s favor for long. In 1945, Königsberg was heavily damaged by Royal Air Force bombers and on April 9, 1945, the Soviets advanced into Königsberg, setting the city ablaze. Since spring of 1944, the Amber Room has never been seen again.
THEORIES AS TO WHAT HAPPENED TO THE AMBER ROOM
- According to records, Hitler ordered the transfer of looted possessions to safer locations on 21 and 24 January 1945. Eyeswitnesses support a theory that the Amber Room was disassembled again and placed on crates at a railway station. The Amber Room was then placed aboard the Wilhelm Gustloff, which left port on January 30,1945. The Wilhelm Gustloff was sunk shortly thereafter by a Soviet submarine.
- The Amber Room was hidden in a basement bunker in Königsberg, which has since been sealed off and inaccessible to the general public.
- Another theory is that the Amber Room was buried in a mine in the Ore Mountains.
The most likely scenario is that the Amber Room was destroyed in the Königsberg castle blaze following the Soviet occupation of the city. The Russian leadership flatly denies this accusation, but researchers claim there are a variety of reasons the then Soviet government denied destroying this work of art. The main motives of their denial is strictly political: to deflect guilt for the destruction of this masterpiece by their own hands and to use as leverage on any grievances placed on Germany following the conclusion of the war.
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