What Is The Amber Room Made Of
Tsarskoye Selo's palace and park complex is situated twenty-five kilometers south of St. Petersburg. The Catherine and Alexander Parks are home to nearly 100 architectural items covering a total area of 300 hectares, ranging from the most beautiful palaces and monuments to pavilions and bridges. While strolling through these parks' pathways, you'll be mesmerized by the sights of amusing lodges, magnificent classical structures, many marble monuments, exotic constructions in the gothic style, and also Turkish and Chinese-styled structures that provide the park a romantic air. In the seventeenth century, a Finnish farm named "Saari mois" was located on the Dudorovsky eminence. In 1708, it became a territory of the Russian Tsar, and the Finnish toponymy term "Saari mois" was changed to the more Russian-sounding "Tsarskaya Mysa."
The Amber Room, a magnificent piece of art comprised of luminous amber panels, diamonds, and gold, was originally constructed as a room for Queen Sophie Charlotte at her Berlin, Prussia, castle (called Lietzenburg). The Amber Room's winding path carried it from Berlin to Russia and ultimately to Knigsberg, where its ultimate destiny remained a mystery. What distinguishes and values this gem is its major component, amber, which is old petrified plant resin. Ages of samples vary from around 15 to 300 million years. Amber possesses a beautiful translucency when illuminated, which attracts artists and collectors. As a result, amber demands a hefty premium. Perhaps the most well-known and inspirational use was the building of the Amber Room.
Arranging panels on the walls proved to be rather challenging as well. Three huge carved amber frames with mirrors were constructed in Koenigsberg in the 17th century, prior to the Cabinet's assembly. To achieve their symmetrical layout, a fourth frame was required. After learning about Empress Elizaveta Petrovna's dissatisfaction, Prussian King Frederick II commissioned an amber frame at Koenigsberg and gave it to the Empress in 1745. Russian imperial emblems were carefully included into the exquisite carving that adorned the frame: a Russian crown adorned the top, and sculptural compositions adorn the sides and bottom of the frame, symbolizing Russia's successes in land and sea conflicts. Thus, all obstacles were surmounted, and the amber coating was incorporated into the new frame of mirrors and gilded carving in the Winter Palace's principal rooms. It is known that the Amber Chamber next to the Empress's bedchamber functioned as a venue for foreign diplomats and noblemen to receive audiences.
Snails, spiders, and scorpions are among the 650 recognized species of creatures mentioned. Amber has around 6000 different species of insects. From fleas to a three-inch lizard discovered in the Dominican Republic. Amber was regarded as "tears of the sun" or "god's urn" by the Phonecians, Greeks, Romans, Vikings, Germans, Baltics, and Slavic peoples. It was later determined to be petrified honey or hardened oil. It is unknown who initially identified Amber as hardened resin, the Romans or the Russians. Regardless, Amber was very popular because to its golden sheen, rarity, and softness. Amber has been used as an artistic medium, as money and as a medium of commerce, and even as medicinal until the 18th century. One might combine it with oil and crème or wear a bit as a necklace to ward off evil spirits and disease. Amber was supposed to have the ability to cure bodily ailments. If one rubs amber against one's clothing, it turns magnetic, which was formerly believed "supernatural."
What Is The Amber Room In Russia
He remembers the shelter being enormous, large enough for vehicles to circle around in. It disappeared from maps during the war, but he and Gluba discovered a ventilation shaft leading down into an underground building they think to be the ancient refuge last week. If this consignment from Koenigsberg was unloaded here while being guarded by the S.S., we owe it to history to open it up and inspect it, he remarked. Permission to excavate is expected to be given next month.
The original Amber Room, designed between 1701 and 1711, was initially erected in Berlin, then presented as a gift to Peter the Great, then relocated to Russia and extended to an estimated 180 square feet. In 1755, it was relocated once again, this time to Tsarskoye Selo, near St. Petersburg, at the Catherine Palace. During WWII, anxious authorities at the Catherine Palace concealed the national treasure under wallpaper in order to stave off the invading Nazi army's art-crazed raiders. It was all for nought, however, as the Nazis soon stole containers of amber and returned them to Germany, where they were proudly displayed at Knigsberg Castle.
To further explore the case, Stachura claimed, a team of Polish divers looked for the wreckage of the Karlsruhe steamship by cross-referencing underwater places reported by fisherman who snagged their nets with the locations of Soviet warplane assaults detailed in military documents.
The crew utilized sonar to identify 22 wrecks that matched the ship's size and dived to those locations. They recognized the Karlsruhe by its unusual bow on their third drive to the disaster on Sept. 24, he added.
When the Allies destroyed Konigsberg in April 1945, the Amber Room was first thought to have been lost forever beneath the ruins. Nonetheless, historians and art curators continue to search for it. The hunt began among the ruins of Konigsberg and extended to the mines under Wuppertal, Germany, as well as the Harz Mountains in eastern Germany. Except for one fragment discovered in the late 1990s in the ownership of a descendent of a Nazi commander, searches for the whole chamber have always come up empty. The Amber Room seemed to be one of the war's greatest lasting mysteries. In 2003, St. Petersburg opened a replica of the great chamber, which remains there to this day. Two British scholars began an in-depth inquiry in 2004 that resulted in the clear hypothesis that the bombs of Konigsberg destroyed it and the trail was lost.
What Is The Amber Room Ever Found
Polish divers claim to have discovered the wreckage of a German second world war ship, which may help resolve a decades-old mystery over the location of the Amber Room, an elaborate room seized by the Nazis from a Russian tsarist house. The salon, which was decorated in amber and gold, was part of the Catherine Palace near St Petersburg. It was last spotted at Knigsberg, a Baltic port city in Germany that is now part of Russia's Kaliningrad zone.
"We uncovered a massive, deep, and lengthy tunnel system and identified what we believe to be a booby trap," Mr Blume told The Times.
The evidence of an explosion corroborates witness descriptions of a shipment of containers being concealed in the tunnels and the entrance blown up to conceal them, he added.
Alfred Rohde, the museum's director, was an amber enthusiast and spent the next two years researching the room's panel history. In late 1943, with the war drawing to a close, Rohde was urged to disassemble and pack the Amber Room. The city was demolished and the castle museum was reduced to rubble by allied bombing strikes in August of the next year. And with that, the Amber Room's trace was gone. Conspiracies, Curses, and Building
The history of the Amber Room is as enthralling as the hunt for it. Originally built in 1701 by Prussian King Friedrich I, it was put in his Berlin residence, Charlottenburg Palace. During a diplomatic visit to Prussia, Peter the Tremendous of Russia expressed great admiration for the Prussian kings chamber. In 1716, King Friedrich I's son, Friedrich Wilhelm I, signed a peace treaty with Peter the Great, handing up the room's panels to solidify the connection. After the deal was signed, the room was dismantled and packed into 18 boxes before being sent to St. Petersburg. In 1755, Empress Elizabeth, Peter's daughter, gave the items to Pushkin's Catherine Palace. Architects augmented the original amber panels with more amber, gold, and precious stones, enlarging the chamber to accommodate its new surrounds. By the time the Amber Room was completed, it encompassed almost 600 square feet and contained over 12,000 pounds of amber.
