The Amber Room - Bernsteinzimmer -
Le Cabinet d`Ambre
The eighth wonder of the world -
was a complete chamber decoration, which
King Friedrich I of Prussia ordered 1701for his
Palace of Charlottenburg, near Berlin.
The decoration was finished 1712, planned by Andreas Schlueter, made by Gottfried Wolfram, Ernst Schacht, Gottfried Turau. But it was difficult to fix it on the walls!
Already in 1716 King Friedrich Wilhelm I. gave the amber room to Czar Peter the Great of Russia as a gift of friendship for Peters study. It was transported through Koenigsberg and Riga.
In 1743 under Elisabeth I. is was build by Rastrelli into the winterpalace in St.Petersburg.
1755 it was reassembled in the Catherinepalace near St. Petersburg :Zarskoje Selo (Pushkin) and completed with mirrorpilasters and painting like amber above the amberparts.
It was 100 sqm large.
In 1775 under Catherine the Great it was completed with 4 stonemosaics from Florence showing allogories.
1941 in II. world war the amber objects were moved to Novosibirsk, but the panels were brought by German troups to the East Prussian town of Königsberg (today Kaliningrad), where it probably was burned in 1944 or again deported 1945....
Again and again there are rumors, believing the amber room is still stored in underground mines...
It became a big mythos.
Since 1979 in Pushkin they worked for reconstruction.
1997 one mosaic "eyesight and smell" was found in Germany and in 2000 given back to Pushkin.
In September 1999 the Essener Ruhrgas AG donatated
6,3 Mill.DM for the reconstruction for its 75 th anniversary in 2001.
Virtuel amberroom
The amber room was completed in 2003 as a highlight for the
300 anniversary of St.Petersburg.
Open since 31.5.2003
Total costs about 30 Mill. USD.
Entrance fee for palace 350 Roubles
Closed days on Tuesdays and last Mondays of month
Attention: If you are a single visitor without a group,
then entry is at 16.00, not before!!!
