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The museum's director, Alfred Rohde, was an amber aficionado and studied the room's panel history while it was on display for the next two years. In late 1943, with the end of the war in sight, Rohde was advised to dismantle the Amber Room and crate it away. In August of the following year, allied bombing raids destroyed the city and turned the castle museum into ruins. And with that, the trail of the Amber Room was lost.
Conspiracies, Curses and Construction
It seems hard to believe that crates of several tons of amber could go missing, and many historians have tried to solve the mystery. The most basic theory is that the crates were destroyed by the bombings of 1944. Others believe that the amber is still in Kaliningrad, while some say it was loaded onto a ship and can be found somewhere at the bottom of the Baltic Sea. In 1997, a group of German art detectives got a tip that someone was trying to hawk a piece of the Amber Room. They raided the office of the seller's lawyer and found one of the room's mosaic panels in Bremen, but the seller was the son of a deceased soldier and had no idea as to the panel's origin. One of the more extreme theories is that Stalin actually had a second Amber Room and the Germans stole a fake.
Another bizarre aspect of this story is the "Amber Room Curse." Many people connected to the room have met untimely ends. Take Rohde and his wife, for example, who died of typhus while the KGB was investigating the room. Or General Gusev, a Russian intelligence officer who died in a car crash after he talked to a journalist about the Amber Room. Or, most disturbing of all, Amber Room hunter and former German soldier Georg Stein, who in 1987 was murdered in a Bavarian forest.
The history of the new Amber Room, at least, is known for sure. The reconstruction began in 1979 at Tsarskoye Selo and was completed 25 years—and $11 million—later. Dedicated by Russian President Vladimir Putin and then-German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder, the new room marked the 300-year anniversary of St. Petersburg in a unifying ceremony that echoed the peaceful sentiment behind the original. The room remains on display to the public at the Tsarskoye Selo State Museum Reserve outside of St. Petersburg.
Comments
amber is not a stone or a gemstone
Posted by adam on January 22,2008 | 01:50AM
very interesting, but PLEASE don't use the wretched word "Tsarina". Tsar is the masculine - Emperor (Kaiser, Empereur) Tsaritsa is the Russian feminine. German has two forms: Kaiserin, and Tsarin. (-in is the German feminizing suffix). French gives us Imperatrice, or in English Empress. All forms seem to govern both the wife/consort of a male ruler, and a female ruler. happy New Year ben Cosin.
Posted by Ben Cosin on January 22,2008 | 06:33AM
Those panels are in a crate inside that U.S military base at the end of Raiders of The Lost Ark!
Posted by Josh on January 22,2008 | 05:28PM
that is so cool i wonder how big the chunk of amber had to be to make panels of amber also if there is that much amber in Prussia why do they not just re-make the panels? well thats all.
Posted by me me me on January 23,2008 | 03:48PM
that's pretty sweet and i would absolutely love to see it. however i'm not clear if the panels were ever found, or if they just replicated it trying to be as accurate as possible...?
Posted by Jo on January 30,2008 | 03:46PM
The amber was made into figures and other small pieces and then stuck onto the wall to make the scenes. There is a book by Steven Berry that about this room.....called the Amber Room.
Posted by kellie on January 30,2008 | 04:13PM
I think amber is resin from pine trees that has been submerged in water for a long time where it becomes "petrified."
Posted by vivien morris on February 10,2008 | 02:47PM
Is there, somewhere, a photo of the amber room panel that appeared on the blackmarket a few years back??
Posted by George W Robinson on February 26,2008 | 08:23AM
Mayor Hans-Peter Haustein of Deutschneudorf in Germany and Christian Hanisch,son of a Luftwaffe navigator who was instructed by the Nazis to hide stolen artifacts during the last days of the war claim to have found a local cavern containing up to two tonnes of precious metal. They have used electromagnetic tests to reach this conclusion and claim this underground chamber also contains Russias' lost Amber Room. We shall see.
Posted by James L.T. Muskett on March 10,2008 | 03:29PM
amber is also special to people in other countries like poland
Posted by Susie Mary Jane on March 21,2008 | 08:16AM
Does anyone know the history behind why the Amber Room was originally made and why? (Other than a gift for Katherine the Great?) Thanks
Posted by Cindi White on March 24,2008 | 01:40PM
Jus finished Steve Berry's "The Amber Room" and had to look up something about the Aamber Room. His book is fun.
Posted by JOANNE hANNON on May 8,2008 | 12:21PM
Some researchers and scholars, as well as hunters of the amber room, came to the sad conclusion that the room was looted and trashed by the red army in 1941, with many people taking small bits of it for souveniers, and the rest being destroyed by fire. The Soviets wanted to cover up that fact, and so even knowing that it didn't exist anymore, staged "hunts" for it, all the while blaming it on the Germans.
Posted by Patty on June 3,2008 | 02:16PM
I think the Soviets have it hidden, just as they have other items they "acquired" during WWII. Probably hidden in that famous underground storage at their national museum.
Posted by Robby on June 8,2008 | 06:47AM
There is also book "Amber Room" by Catherine Scott-Clark and Adrian Levy; I', in the middle of it ! very interesting! Makes you go hunting for hidden treasure ! But also you feel tremendous loss of precious arts forever ! War is and always will be the most evil acts, people had ever done.
Posted by grace on July 4,2008 | 11:30AM
Fascinating. I became interested after reading Steve Berry's "The Amber Room" - although fiction it captured my imagination. Tragic if the Room is lost forever - the casualties of war is not limited to lives, property, liberty etc but to civilization.
Posted by Tupousolo on July 15,2008 | 04:36PM
I too have just read The Amber Room by Steve Berry. He is an excellent writer...all his books are great. As to the room, we will probably never know..but one can surmise that the worst done was probally true. Neither of those 2 countries have any do-right in them.
Posted by Sadie on July 25,2008 | 04:13PM
Since Amber is really pitch, it burns very quickly. It could have all been lost in a fire, with no remaining traces.
Posted by Sonni on October 13,2008 | 03:19PM
I also just finished Steve Berry's book. One point he made was that if the Amber Room was burned, there would have been a noticeable and distinct of smell of the burning amber. There are no contemporary accounts of such a smell during the time of the burning. Hey, it's fiction but could that be true? If its pine resin, I would imagine it would have distinct odor. Curious . . .
Posted by Kathy on October 18,2008 | 11:24AM
Just finished the Scott-Clark/Levy rendition of the Amber Room. I thought they had it sewed up but Kathy's comment of Oct 18/08 re the smell of burning amber (mentioned in Berry's book which I haven't read) is not mentioned at all by Scott-Clark/Levy. Maybe it was lost in the other putrid smells of war and of an old city that would not meet our current standards of sanitation. Just grabbin' at straws.
Posted by glenna on January 11,2009 | 02:17AM
i did research on the amber room but to Josh it is not in a us military base
Posted by person on February 17,2009 | 10:15AM
T. Davis Bunn writes a series of novels, The Priceless Collection, about lost and found treasures in Eastern Europe. Florian's Gate focuses on Poland; The Amber Room has a fictionalized account of finding and resurrecting this lost artifact; and The Winter Palace features Russia's art heritage. I heartily recommend these books if you liked others about the Amber Room.
Posted by Pam on February 28,2009 | 07:05AM
Just read Berry's Amber Room. Very Interesting. Had no idea it actually did exist. We managed to stamp out a lot of evil in WWII but does anyone really 'win' in a war. 3/24/09/ 01:30 AM
Posted by nita on March 24,2009 | 12:02AM
I just finished reading the Amber Room by Steve Berry and enjoyed it very much. His writing is similar to that of Dan Brown in DiVinci Code, and I enjoyed both books. As the book was fiction but based on some true facts, it peaked my curiosity as to what ever really did happen to it and found this site of great interest. Happy to give my thoughts on the book.
Posted by Rose on April 4,2009 | 08:44AM
I believe the amber room is still around just hidden some where. The amber room was rebuilt but its still not the same. an original is always worth more then a copy. i wish to find the real amber room.
Posted by ashleigh on April 6,2009 | 12:53PM
Amber room is still hidden in POland, in the Town named "Paslek" It's burried under castle.
Posted by Sławek on April 10,2009 | 11:54PM
Just reading Steve Berry's "The Amber Room" right now. Love his books. Makes me want to go on all these adventures. Has the Amber Room really been found? Or is it in some private collector's castle somewhere in Germany or Russia? I think it will remain a secret for many years to come. It is absolutely magnificent, though, just from viewing the pictures. Wish the public could see it and share in its beauty. Yet another hardship and desecration of war. How sad. Still interesting to learn about, though!
Posted by Leann on May 11,2009 | 06:29PM
The amber had actually crumbled when the Russians tried to dismantle the room. When the Gemans got ahold of the room behind the hastily pasted and camouflaged wallpaper wall they too in their greed and haste allowed the rest of the room to crumble during the dismantlement and put the sometimes tiny pieces into numerous cases and crates. The rest of the treasures were crated and put into numerous boxes and crates too. I believe these items were kept together due to Hitlers instructions. When they were done, to keep the amber from falling into the wrong hands as a complete room and the contents, they separated the shipments into about 10 different vehicles, some trucks, cars and a couple of motorbikes. Some of the vehicles of course never made it to the destination, some of the drivers literally took off, knowing what they had and the worth of the individual shipments. Some were killed outright by allies, the rest was lost, but found again and kept hidden, where I do not know. Some of you amber collectors and admirers may actually be wearing or keeping the actual amber from the very room as I write. I am not sure if it can be dated and if they can tell exactly where it was mined or found, but it might be interesting to check if you can, and desire to know. josef
Posted by josef on May 19,2009 | 10:16PM
Also reading Steve Berry's book The Amber Room, not done yet but decided to check and see if the amber room existed. Very interesting tale. Glad to get to see the pictures, it will bring the book to life for me. Thanks!
Posted by Kathi on June 20,2009 | 11:59AM
This article is very interesting
Posted by Someone on August 11,2009 | 05:42PM
I,too,am reading the Amber Room by Berry. It piqued my interest and I decided to Google it. I am gratified to know it is indeed real and love the idea that there are still mysteries in this world.
Posted by Jill on August 25,2009 | 02:00PM
http://amber.tzar.ru/amber here you can find details of restoration....all 5 steps... but it is in Russian.... I think it is the most accurate information you can find online about the Amber room. Website says there are working on English version... For me it is a very sad story - how stupidity and vanity of some people can destroy such a treasure.
Posted by Katerina on August 30,2009 | 03:02PM
I had actually never heard of any of this until today. This is really fascinating, and it captivates the imagination. Josef, how do you know all of that??
Posted by Kim on October 4,2009 | 09:59AM
Googled the Amber Room after reading the book The Brutal Telling by Louise Penny. The book is a mystery but a piece of amber from the Amber Room was found in the story and I was curious as to whether it really existed. Fascinating but sad, too -- no one wins in war.
Posted by Gerry on November 22,2009 | 01:37PM