This article was downloaded by: [University of Chicago Library]On: 17 November 2014, At: 18:59Publisher: RoutledgeInforma Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954 Registered office: MortimerHouse, 37-41 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH, UK

Rocks & MineralsPublication details, including instructions for authors and subscription information:http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/vram20

The 2003 Reopening of the Amber Room TsarskoyeSelo, near St. Petersburg, RussiaPatty C. RicePublished online: 08 Jul 2010.

To cite this article: Patty C. Rice (2004) The 2003 Reopening of the Amber Room Tsarskoye Selo, near St. Petersburg,Russia , Rocks & Minerals, 79:5, 300-312, DOI: 10.1080/00357529.2004.9925728

To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00357529.2004.9925728

PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLE

Taylor & Francis makes every effort to ensure the accuracy of all the information (the “Content”) containedin the publications on our platform. However, Taylor & Francis, our agents, and our licensors make norepresentations or warranties whatsoever as to the accuracy, completeness, or suitability for any purposeof the Content. Any opinions and views expressed in this publication are the opinions and views of theauthors, and are not the views of or endorsed by Taylor & Francis. The accuracy of the Content should notbe relied upon and should be independently verified with primary sources of information. Taylor and Francisshall not be liable for any losses, actions, claims, proceedings, demands, costs, expenses, damages, andother liabilities whatsoever or howsoever caused arising directly or indirectly in connection with, in relationto or arising out of the use of the Content.

This article may be used for research, teaching, and private study purposes. Any substantial or systematicreproduction, redistribution, reselling, loan, sub-licensing, systematic supply, or distribution in anyform to anyone is expressly forbidden. Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at http://www.tandfonline.com/page/terms-and-conditions

Figure 1. Catherine Palace, home of the Amber Room; Johannes Keilmaxm photo.

T h e 2 0 0 3 Reopenin! of

th” 5 PATTY C. RICE Tsarskoye Selo, near St. Petersburg, Russia 14968 Stoney Brook Drive Shelby Township, Michigan 4831 5 pattyriceeearthlin k.net

Unless otherwise noted, all photos by Alexander Minin, courtesy of Boris Igdalov, director of the Tsarkoye Selo amber workshop. Copynghf held by the author.

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Uni

vers

ity o

f C

hica

go L

ibra

ry]

at 1

8:59

17

Nov

embe

r 20

14

s the sun shines in the tall windows, the amber glows in oranges, reds, and dark browns and yellows. I feel as if I am standing in the midst of an enormous jewelry box. Amber crowns, medallions with amber roses, and amber carved with scenes of people and landscapes cover the walls of the magnificently re-created Amber Room. in the Catherine Palace, Tsarskoye Selo (“the Tsar’s Village”), in Pushkin, just south of St. Petersburg, Russia. eer complexity of each amber panel is overwhelming, with

prechly fitted amber medallions etched with intricate scenes sur- rounded by mosaic pieces of amber. I look in awe at the intricately

Dr. Patty C. Rice, a noted expert on amber, is the author of Amber, the Golden Gem of the Ages [Koscuiscko Foundation, 1996). Her most recent article for Rocks & Minerals was titled ‘Xmber Mining in the Dominican Republic” and appeared in the July/August 1981 issue. She regularly displays piecesfrom her amber collection at the annual Detroit Gem and Mineral Show. (This year’s show dates are 8-10 October.)

pipre 3. A dose-up view ofthe fnuned image shown in f i p e 10 and also in one of the commemorative stamp13 (figure 20).

mb I

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Uni

vers

ity o

f C

hica

go L

ibra

ry]

at 1

8:59

17

Nov

embe

r 20

14

Figure 5. Map showing St. Petersburg, which celebrated its Three-Hundred-Year Jubilee in 2003. Map by William Besse.

Figure 4. Domes of Catherine Palace; author’s photo.

carved amber frames that showcase finely detailed mosaic pictures made of semiprecious stones in petra dura fashion. I am amazed at how this master architectural feat was accomplished. The amber mosaic panels between the long mirrors and gilding have been painstakingly reproduced and constructed by Russian craftsmen. I had visited the Amber Room in 1991, but, at that time, I saw bare walls. Now I was back and mesmerized by the beautiful glowing amber walls. The newly re-created Amber Room opened to the public in June 2003 for the tricentennial celebration of St. Petersburg (formerly Leningrad). A donation of $3.5 million from the German company Ruhrgas, the biggest importer of Russian gas, enabled the room to be completed in time for the celebration.

The reconstruction project had taken more than twenty years. Russian amber artisans had carefully examined old photographs and black-and-white drawings to make their 302 ROCKS & MINERALS

work identical to the Amber Room produced by the Danzig (present-day Gdansk) Amber Guild members in the Middle Ages. Six tons of amber fossil resin had to be imported from the Baltic Sea coast mine in Kaliningrad. More than five hundred thousand amber pieces were matched to the origi- nal photographs to design the panels as closely as possible to those in the original room-which itself has an incredible history.

The Amber Room-A Magnificent Work and Wonder In 1701, Frederick I, the electorate of Brandenberg,

declared himself King of Prussia. The Russian literature reports (Sautov et al. 2003) that he wanted to compare him- self with the Sun King, Louis XIV, and wanted lavish deco- rations around him so he would not be outdone. At that time the Danzig Amber Guild created elaborately decorated carved amber boxes, altarpieces, vases, and tankards that traditionally were given to monarchs and royalty as gifts. King Frederick I decided on a new use for amber: architec- ture.

The Amber Room was originally designed, in approxi- mately 1701, by Andreas Schliiter, a noted architect, sculp- tor, and eminent representative of classical baroque art. Pol- ish art historians point out that the role of the designer should not be exaggerated because it was the expert work of the master craftsmen that made the magnificent design glow. It was the amber that made the room famous (Grabowska 1983).

Gottfried Wolffram, court amber master, was recom- mended by the Danish monarch to Frederick I to carry out the work for making a complete room of amber. By 1707, only one wall was finished. After a dispute over payment for work completed, Wolffram was dismissed, and the task of continuing construction of the amber panels was entrusted to two Danzig masters, Gottfried Tarau and Ernest Schacht, for a fee less than Wolffram’s. These two craftsmen had mas- tered the secrets of the art of working this raw material that (‘so deceptively appeared so easy” (Rice 1986).

The room’s panels were built entirely from a mosaic of smoothly polished plates of amber in a multicolored arrangement. The delicate engravings on the backs of trans- parent disks of amber portrayed scenes of the life of fisher-

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Uni

vers

ity o

f C

hica

go L

ibra

ry]

at 1

8:59

17

Nov

embe

r 20

14

The Amber Room Time Line The most glorious work of amber art ever created

disappeared in 1941, thanks to Adolf Hitler. It has now been re-created at the Catherine Palace, Tsarskoye Selo.

1701 King Frederick I of Prussia commissioned the room for his palace in Berlin.

1709 Skilled craftsmen completed twelve 16-foot-high mosaic panels depicting flowers and Prussian royal emblems, using nearly one hundred thousand perfect- ly fitted pieces of carved amber.

1716 King Frederick William gave the panels to Tsar Peter the Great of Russia in exchange for soldiers to fight in his war against the Swedes.

1755 Catherine the Great had the panels installed in her newly completed summer palace at Tsarskoye Selo, near St. Petersburg. Because the room was larger than the original, the panels were fitted usin mirrors, gild-

wallpaper near the ceiling. 1941 Adolf Hitler ordered the amber panels packed

and crated and sent by train to Konigsberg (now Kalinin rad) The panels weighed more than 6 tons and h a t a n estimated value of more than $150 million according to some historians.

1942-1944 The Amber Room was reportedly on dis- play in Konigsberg Royal Castle Museum.

1945 When the Russians arrived in Konigsberg, the panels could not be found. Many theories exist, includ- ing that they were burned, inadvertently bombed dur- ing Allied raids, transported to private German castles for hiding, placed on a Russian ship that was sunk by a German torpedo, or even stolen by the Americans.

1975 People’s Master Artists of Applied Art of Latvia constructed a model one-fifth of the actual room size to determine the amount of amber it would take to reconstruct it. It was estimated that 230 kilograms would be needed.

1986 Restoration of the Amber Room began; the Soviet Union had begun funding the artists in 1979. Thirty percent of rough amber is waste, but some waste amber pieces were used to make pressed amber in the Russian factory.

1994 Thirty to forty percent of the work was complet- ed, but only the medallions were on exhibit. (The room had bare walls and photographs when I visited there in 1991.)

1996 Architect A. Kendrinsky and master artist Alexan- der Krylov were overseeing the project and brought a panel and the amber table to the American Museum of Natural History in New York City for Grimaldi’s amber exhibit.

2003 The restoration was completed. In May, digni- taries were invited to visit the Amber Room in con- junction with the Three-Hundred-Year Jubilee of St. Petersburg.

2003 In June, the room was opened to the public. (I visited in July.) Amber objects from earlier years also adorned the room.

ed frames, and trompe l’oeil (“to fool t a e eye”) amber

men. Ornaments carved in bas-relief presented flowing full figures, cherubs, flowers, and crowns. In 1709, the rest of the room was finished and was inaugurated in King Frederick 1’s palace in Berlin. The glittering 16-foot-high amber mosa- ic panels depicting the Prussian royal emblems were installed on the walls of a corner room on the third floor in

the Berlin castle. Eye-witnesses reported that “when the sun shone through the windows, it was like standing in an open jewel box.” However, reports indicate that shortly thereafter the entire room collapsed, falling to the floor and smashing some of the mirrors and paneling. The undamaged seg- ments were sent to the king’s palace in Zeughaus, Prussia. Four years later, King Frederick I died, and the crown passed to his son, Frederick William, who was more interested in spending his funds on his royal guards than on lavish deco- rations (Sautov et al. 2003).

Despite this, in 1713, King Frederick William exhibited the most spectacular of all works of amber art-an entire room, including walls, ceiling, and doors, covered with mosaics of amber pieces of varying shades and hues. This magnificent room was furnished with amber vases, dishes, candlesticks, snuff bottles, powder boxes, and cutlery. It had taken twelve years and the work of several architects and craftsmen to complete. This was a room of glistening amber, a material inaccessible to any other sovereign, even though many nobles along the Baltic treasured amber to the point of employing their own amber turners. On seeing the room, Peter the Great, the Russian Tsar, extravagantly praised its beauty.

In 1716, after Tsar Peter’s famous victory over the Swedish armies at Poltava, he visited Berlin, and King Fred- erick William needed a suitable gift to give to the powerful tsar. Russian reports state that the king remembered the amber panels, then in storage, that his father had displayed and decided to use them as the gift, since Peter had admired them when he had seen them previously. King Frederick William, in a magnanimous gesture, presented the entire room to the tsar. Some reports say this gift was in exchange for fifty-five tall Russian soldiers, rather than simply a gen- erous gift. Nevertheless, the room was carefully dismantled, packed in boxes, and taken by sleigh to St. Petersburg. On 13 January 1717, Russian documents indicate that the Amber Room consignment reached St. Petersburg. It was to be installed in the tsar’s palace as decoration in the study in his third winter palace at St. Petersburg. Instead, however, it was placed in cases and stored in cellars, where it remained until the middle of the century (Sautov et al. 2003).

In 1743, Elizabeth Petrovna, Peter 1’s daughter, signed an order that read as follows (Sautov et al. 2003):

It is our imperial will that the amber cabinet intended for the Empresses Private Quarters where we the Imperial Majesty reside be accepted and installed.

She loved beautiful places and decided she needed a palace in Tsar’s Village. She found that she had only three of the amber panels-the fourth was missing. Peter the Great at once commissioned it from Danzig masters and presented it to her with a laudatory poem that glorified her military exploits.

In 1755, Tsarina Elizabeth transferred the entire room to Tsarskoye Selo, where Catherine the Great’s summer palace, Ekaterininsky Palace, was located. The tsarina added many gifts of amber previously given to the Russian royalty by Frederick the Great. Among these treasures was a splendid mirror with its frame carved of amber. The carving depict-

Volume 79, September/October 2004 303

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Uni

vers

ity o

f C

hica

go L

ibra

ry]

at 1

8:59

17

Nov

embe

r 20

14

Figure 6. Another wall of the Amber Room.

ed the Imperial Russian crown held up by two armed men at the top. The pedestals were carved into representations of the goddess of war on one side and, on the other, the god- dess of peace. Beneath were figures of Neptune and a dol- phin, intended to represent Russia’s power at sea. At the foot appeared carvings of armor, soldiers, and arms, represent- ing Russia’s land power.

In 1760, several amber carvers from the guilds in Konigs- berg were called to Russia to complete the carving of the room under the instruction of the imperial architect, Carlo Rastrelli the Younger, son of Bartholommeo Francesco Ras- trelli, an Italian architect who had designed many monumen- tal architectural structures in St. Petersburg. Some reports say this work was directed by him. However, we definitely know much designing was done to install the room. Italian Rococo supplements were added to the chamber to accommodate differences in the size of the new location. The original room had only a 16-foot ceiling, whereas the new summer palace had a 30-foot ceiling. Rastrelli was the fist to include the tall narrow mirrors to give the new room the appearance of being completely covered with amber. At least five amber crafts- men-Friedrich Roggenbuch, Johann Roggenbuch, Johann Welpendorf, Clemens Frick, and Heinrich Withelm Frick- from Konigsberg continued to work on the Amber Room until about 1763. Venetian mirrors in gilded frames, white door posts with gilded ornamentation, and candelabra added a subtle sensitivity to the ambiance of the room and in no way detracted from the overall color scheme or architectural con- cept. Four Florentine mosaics depicting the five senses were added to the room by Rastrelli (Rice 1986).

Many other amber art objects were included in the fur- nishings of the room. A large decorative curio cabinet (a

304 ROCKS & MINERALS

Figure 7. Northeast corner of the restored Amber Room.

Kunstkammer), common among the elite of the region, fea- tured numerous amber artifacts. It is reported that by 1765 there were more than seventy amber items on the invento- ry, including small chests (sarcophagi), snuffboxes, candle- sticks, crucifixes, plates, knives and forks, and altar pieces. Most impressive was a small corner table made of encrusted amber that was added in 1780.

A German press attache in the Soviet Union wrote of this splendid room before it was removed from Catherine’s sum- mer palace. Following is this wartime account, as quoted by Grabowska (1983):

The style of the Amber Room at Tsarskoye Selo is a mixture of baroque and rococo and is a perfect miracle, not only because of the value of the material, the artistic value of the sculpture and the lightness of the forms, but mainly because of the beauty, the warm shades, of the amber-here darker, here lighter-which gives inimitable charm to the whole room. All the walls are cov- ered with a mosaic made from polished pieces of amber of uneven shape and different sizes, but of a fairly uniform golden- brown color. The walls are divided into panels by frames cov- ered with amber reliefs, and the panels are filled with four Roman landscapes executed in a mosaic of various-colored stones, showing allegories of the five senses also in frames with amber reliefs. What labor was required to create this unique masterpiece! The fantastically rich baroque style used in deco- rating the room only made the task more difficult. It was done perfectly, regardless of the technical difficulties. From this diffi- cult, breakable material, they made baroque forms of ornamen- tation and the other decorations, small busts, various figures, coats of arms, trophies etc., frames and panneaux.

The whole decoration is equally delightful in daylight and in artificial light. There is nothing ostentatious, nothing showy here and the decorations are simple and harmonious, so that some people may pass through the room not realizing from

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Uni

vers

ity o

f C

hica

go L

ibra

ry]

at 1

8:59

17

Nov

embe

r 20

14

Figure 8. A close-up of the exquisite detail in a frame on the north wall.

Figure 9. A wall section of the Amber Room.

what material the wall coverings, window and door frames and wall ornaments are made. The amber covering most closely resembles marble, but it never evokes the impression of cold splendor which is so typical of marble, and at the same time it is much more beautiful than paneling of the most costly wood. The Amber Room is lighted on two sides by three French win- dows looking out onto the palace courtyard. There are mirrors on the window columns, with gilded and carved frames down to the floor. Between the windows, there are glass cases containing various small objects, like chess men, snuffboxes, amber caskets etc. On one of the walls, the dates 1709 and 1760 are engraved- the most important dates in the history of the Amber Room.

Operation Linz This unique masterpiece of amber artistry remained in

Tsarskoye Selo for 178 years! It was preserved in magnificent condition until the outbreak of World War 11. One of Adolf Hitler’s goals was “Operation Linz,” which involved estab- lishing the most majestic museum in the world in Linz, his hometown. He planned to furnish the museum with trea- sures from the captured countries and from the repressed Jews as well as from art patrons. As the frontlines approached St. Petersburg, Russian museum curators tried to hide art treasures in Novosidbirsk for safekeeping. Ana- toly Mikhailovich Kuchumov, who was responsible for the evacuation of Tsarskoye Selo’s art collection, reports that as early as 1936 there were lists of works of art to be evacuat- ed, but the Amber Room was not on any list. The Soviets carefully wrapped the room with rice paper so it would not be visible and started to remove one of the panels, but it began to crumble. Thus, the walls were carefully covered with paper, gauze, cotton, wool, and, finally, covered with planks but left in place at the palace (Sautov et al. 2003).

On 17 September 1941, Germany’s Eastern Front North

Army Number 6, under the supervision of Col. Count Solms-Laubach, approached Leningrad. When the Nazis occupied Pushlun, General Wehrmacht ordered the room to be dismantled before they razed the palace. Within thirty- six hours, six men had taken the room apart, wrapping the panels in carpets and curtains, and packing them in twenty- seven wooden crates.

Gen. Erich Koch, the German officer in charge of the art treasures of Europe, ordered the room to be shipped to the Prussian Fine Arts Museum in Konigsberg. Dr. Alfred Rhode, director of art collections in the Royal Castle Muse- um there, had wanted the Amber Room all his life. In fact, he had contacted General Koch long in advance and asked him to “provide protection of the Amber Room, an art trea- sure dear to the heart of every civilized man” (Sautov et d. 2003).

The Russian ministry of culture has studied German doc- uments to learn of the destiny of the Amber Room after it left Tsarskoye Selo. It is reported to have been on exhibition in the Konigsberg Royal Castle Museum from 1942 to 1944. Rhode’s article in Munich‘s Pantheon journal, in 1942, informed Great Germany about a joyous event, stating (Sautov et al. 2003):

The Amber Room has literally and figuratively returned to its Motherland, the territory of Great Germany. There is no doubt that this great masterpiece will never return to Russia for that would be tantamount to one thing-the ruination of everything we call Great Germany.

Rhode installed the Amber Room in one of the halls of the castle, but there was not enough space for all of it because the room was smaller than the hall in Tsarskoye Selo. The panels weighed more than 6 tons and were valued

Volume 79, September/October 2004 305

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Uni

vers

ity o

f C

hica

go L

ibra

ry]

at 1

8:59

17

Nov

embe

r 20

14

Figure 10. A large frame on the north wall. Figure 11. A wall decoration with mirror; Michael Leibov photo.

at more then $150 million. The condition of the room was also worn, and many of its components were lost or dam- aged. One of the mosaics, Touch and Smell, was missing and became one of the dramatic developments that took place years afterward.

Russian searchers for the Amber Room have uncovered documents leading in many directions and giving many the- ories of the fate of the Amber Room from 1942 to 1945. Rhode was contacted by Alfred Rosenberg, head of the Min- istry for Eastern Territories, to organize the collection of art for the “Operation Linz” museum. A letter sent to Gen. Erich Koch by Rosenberg reads (Sautov et al. 2003):

Dear General Koch! The Amber Room must return precisely to the place whence it was shipped 200 years ago. There in Berlin this amber miracle will be a symbol of the Third Reich‘s grandeur. I have talked to the Fuhrer on this score. The Fuhrer is in agreement.

However, Koch objected, saying that the splendor of the Third Reich would be most impressive if “the Amber Room remained precisely in Konigsberg as a symbol of the immutability of the Reich‘s borders. I have spoken to the Fuhrer and he is in agreement”(Sautov et al. 2003).

Another German air force marshal, Herman Goring, who owned a large collection of art treasures, also took an inter- est in the Amber Room. He even threatened Koch and repeatedly telephoned him. Koch invited him to visit and have his picture taken in the room.

One of the reasons the room was sought after by Hitler was that he had been advised by his doctors to spend regu- lar periods in the curative field of amber. Amber was thought to have healing powers and to be soothing for cramps and rheumatic pain. Hitler visited Konigsberg often, and many amber businesses worked for him. A famous statement attributed to Hitler was “Amber is German Gold.” Therefore, when Hitler read in a TASS news agency report

306 ROCKS & MINERALS

in November 1942 that the Amber Room was still in Konigsberg, he demanded an explanation from Joaechem Von Ribbentrop, Minister for Foreign Affairs. Ribbentrop replied (Sautov et al. 2003):

In autumn of 1941, the Amber Cabinet Frederick Wilhelm’s gift to Peter I with certain components missing was moved from Catherine’s Castle to a safe place. The cabinet has been tem- porarily placed in the Konigsberg Castle. This unique art trea- sure has been protected from ruination. Simultaneously, 18 trucks full of the most valuable furniture and art objects, most- ly paintings, were carried to Konigsberg for safe storage.

Heil, Hitler, Joachem Von Ribbentrop

Reich Minister for Foreign Affairs

When Allied air raids began on Konigsberg, the Prussian Fine Arts Museum’s director, Dr. Alfred Rhode (mentioned earlier), despite eminent danger to the chamber, put off dis- mantling the amber panels. Rhode sent a report to Berlin on 2 September 1944, saying that “the Amber Room was undamaged except for six plates of the plinth.” He then began searching for a place to move the room. He sent a request to a castle owner, Prince Zu Dona of Schlobitten, Germany, to store the crates in his vaults but was told that they were too damp for art treasures. Next, he chose the fortress of Excelburg near Rochliz, Germany, and was told that the church buildings, side annexes, and premises behind the gallery could be used. Russian researchers report that no one knows whether the boxes with the Amber Room were ever forwarded to Rochliz (Sautov et al. 2003).

Mysteries of the Whereabouts of the Amber Room One story, which does not fit with our knowledge of the

properties of amber, is related by a school friend of Rhode’s daughter. She recalls that in 1944, on the day following a

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Uni

vers

ity o

f C

hica

go L

ibra

ry]

at 1

8:59

17

Nov

embe

r 20

14

Figure 12. A table clock; Michael Leibov photo. Figure 13. Part of a wall decoration; Michael Leibov photo.

British bombing raid, she met Rhode, and he was pale and shaken up. When she asked how the Amber Room was, he replied, “All is lost!” He took her down in one of the cellars opposite the restaurant in Konigsberg Castle. Stepping on ashes, she was overcome by a strong smell of burning. She writes that she saw “a mass resembling melted honey, in which there were charred fragments of wood.” (A letter from Frau Liesel Amm from Berlin, was published by Ryszard Badowski in his book Tajemnica Bursztynowej Kom- naty [The Secret of the Amber Room] .) Amber researchers discredit this theory because it is impossible to get a “mass resembling melted honey from pieces of amber.” Also, the temperature reaches 1,200”C at the heart of a fire, and amber ceases to exist at 300°C. Polish researchers state that if Liesel Amm had seen the smoldering remains, she would not even have guessed that amber had burned other than from an aromatic, incenselike scent-a scent stronger than the bitter smell of burning (Grabowska 1983).

Rhode himself confirms the Amber Room had not burned in these fires when he sent a report on 2 September 1944, stating that “the Amber Room was undamaged except for six plates of the plinth” (Sautov et al. 2003).

By April 1945, the room was in cases and had been seen in the castle by impartial witnesses. According to Polish amber historian Grabowska (1983), “This is the last authen- ticated information on the fate of the amber room during the war.” When the Russians arrived in Konigsberg, the pan- els could not be found.

The Sunday, 19 March 1967 issue of the San Diego Union included an Associated Press news report from Warsaw, Poland, that read:

Erich Koch, imprisoned former Nazi ruler of East Prussia, was quoted in a Polish newspaper yesterday as saying a valuable “amber chamber” made for King Frederick the Great is buried

somewhere in Kaliningrad, Russia, formerly East Prussia’s Konigsberg.

Koch died in 1986. Because he was the officer in charge of the panels in.1945, he would have been the only person who might have truly known of the panels’ hiding place, if any. Unfortunately, Koch never revealed their location, nor did Rhode.

Despite Boris Yeltsin’s 1991 announcement to the press that the Amber Room was hidden in Germany, no one knows the room’s exact whereabouts. However, speculation abounds. Some fear it was destroyed by fire during the bomb- ing raids toward the end of the war. Another story reports the panels being crated up and placed on a German passenger ship leaving Gadynia in 1945. Unfortunately, the ship was tor- pedoed while still in the Baltic Sea and sank. Divers have attempted deep-sea diving to recover the panels, but none have yet been found. Treasure hunters have speculated that the room was stored in underground tunnels in Weimar, Ger- many, or even in bunkers of the brewery frequented by Koch. In 1992, People Magazine provided details of the search for the Amber Room in an article titled “A Treasure in Amber,” and at least one national magazine sent a team of spelunkers to investigate the authenticity of these claims. As yet, no reports have come forth on the room’s location.

Many interesting theories relating to the room’s disappear- ance, increasingly bordering between fact and fantasy, contin- ue as speculation regarding the whereabouts of the Amber Room is contemplated. Some believe the room was stored in an underground cellar, whereas others say searching these would be futile. What is known is that when the Russians reached Konigsberg in April 1945, the Amber Room had dis- appeared. No one knows if it had been destroyed or whether its hiding place may still be discovered.

Volume 79, September/October 2004 307

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Uni

vers

ity o

f C

hica

go L

ibra

ry]

at 1

8:59

17

Nov

embe

r 20

14

Figure 14. An amber artist at work during the restoration. Figure 15. Collaboration between artists during on the restoration.

The Last Clue A German document fiom Otto Ringel, sent fiom Konigsberg to

Berlin and dated 16 January 1945, was found in the archives of George Stein, a researcher who devoted his life and fortune to searching for the Amber Room. The document reads (Sautov et aL 2003): “Obersturmbanfuhrer, Amber Room, mission accom- plished. The item is stored in B.S.”

There is a Wildtenkend Salt mine in Volpriehausen; however, only a museum remains. After the war, several explosions occurred in the mine, and now it is flooded. Some reports indicate that, in December 1944, four well- guarded train carriages with boxes arrived here from Konigsberg. Some of these boxes were removed when a miner’s children were found playing with amber plates. The initials of the mine at Volpriehausen are B. S. W. V. Unfortunately, the explosions took place in the mine in 1945. There is also the theory that the Americans may have found the room and whisked it away after the war. Several other mines have been searched to no avail, and the search still goes on.

Hidden in a Silver Mine? One interesting theory put forth (1 August 1998) was that

two rival teams in Germany and Lithuania believed they had located the Amber Room. David Shukman (1998) in his arti- cle, “On the Trail of the Amber Room,” stated that a German investigator, Helmut Gaensel, said he had found the spot where the treasure was hidden-it was buried in a silver mine 100 kilometers south of Berlin. He claimed to have been told this by former Secret Service officers, now living in Brazil. He said locals report having seen great activity around the mine in April 1945. Gaensel intended to open a tunnel that would lead to the Amber Room, but this still has not happened.

308 ROCKS & MINERALS

Buried in a lagoon? Many investigators have traced documents listing the,transport-

ing of the Amber Room crates. However, some believe the Nazis did not remove the treasure fiom Konigsberg at all but simply hid it on the shores of the Baltic Sea The mayor of the Lithuanian town of Neringa, Stasys Mikek believes “the Amber Room is buried under the murky waters of a lagoon close to his town.” He says that mem- bers of the Nazi Secret Service were seen toward the end of the war trying to hide wooden crates on the shoreline. He believes the rise in the water level eventually covered the hiding place. Agam the fate of the room remains a mystery (Shukman 1998).

Astrologists, Numerologists, Clairvoyants Astrologists also have become involved in the search for

the Amber Room. They have found that when holding a needle over a map, it points to the Orinoco River in Venezuela. It is their belief that former Secret Service offi- cers now living in South America may have purchased the Amber Room in 1996 and taken it to Venezuela. Further, they predict it will not surface until 2006.

Authentic Pieces Found As it turns out, some elements of the room have already

surfaced. In 1983, a cabinet maker named Johann Enste was restoring a chest that he recognized from a photograph. He noticed the Russian inventory number on the back of the chest and contacted Ivan Sautov at Tsarskoye Selo Museum. It was confirmed that the chest was in the Catherine Palace’s registry,

Another discovery relates to the missing mosaic recorded in 1942 when the Amber Room arrived in Konigsberg. In 1992, a Florentine mosaic was offered for sale by an art deal- er. It looked suspiciously like the missing “Touch and Smell” from the Catherine Palace. The story unfolded that one of the German soldiers had picked up the mosaic as a souvenir,

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Uni

vers

ity o

f C

hica

go L

ibra

ry]

at 1

8:59

17

Nov

embe

r 20

14

Figure 16. Detailed repair work on an amber frame.

Amber Room Visits Tucson

Boris Igdalov, director of the amber workshop, brought to the 2003 Tucson Show an exhibit showing amber items made in the workshop during the Amber Room’s restoration. Included were exact copies of seventeenth- and eigh- teenth-century pieces as well as modern work.

or keepsake, when dismantling the room and had taken it with him on a hospital train. It eventually passed on to his son. When his son, Mr. Achtermann, attempted to sell it through an art dealer named Keiser, suspicion developed, and the mosaic was confiscated. Der Spiegel magazine invit- ed Boris Igdalov from Tsarskoye Selo to investigate the mosa- ic to determine its authenticity by matching it to the original photograph. Both the owner of the mosaic and the dealer who tried to sell it were arrested. Shortly after being released from prison, the son died. His daughter was entitled to the mosaic. A German businessman from Bremen compensated her with 200,000 DM for it and then gave it to the town of Bremen to trade for the Bremen art collection that is cur- rently in Russian galleries. The dealer was sentenced to two years probation and fined 90,000 DM. The mosaic now is back in its home, on exhibit in St. Petersburg.

Reconstruction Project While the search for the original Amber Room continued,

amber artists from the People’s Master Artists of Applied Art, in Latvia in 1975, took on the seemingly impossible task of restoring the room. With the help of art critics, librarians, archivists, and archaeologists, Boris Nikolayevich Blinov, his Wife Antonina Georgiyevna, and their son Boris collected and thoroughly studied all available records, including those from the former lapidary factory at St. Petersburg, whose artisans

Figure 17. An amber artist surveys a panel.

restored the Amber Room at the end of the nineteenth centu- ry. To assure that an exact replica was constructed, preserved photos of the lost Amber Room were enlarged to actual size, making all details down to the smallest piece visible. Colors of amber were matched and sketches made for patterns so that mosaic designs would be accurately shaped. For one panel alone, more than three thousand patterns were necessary.

Before the work could be proposed, it was necessary to provide an estimate of the amount of amber required for completion of the full-sized room. Careful mathematical calculations were made, and a model of the room was con- structed at one-fifth its actual size. The model required only 230 kilograms of amber, verifymg that the contemplated work was feasible (Suprichev 1978).

Despite discouraging opinions of skeptics, the Blinovs completed the first portions of the replica of the original masterpiece: a large amber disk carved with the seal of King Frederick William, and the upper wreath design of the basic panel. These pieces were presented to specialists of the State Committee for Protection of Cultural and National Monuments in Leningrad and were enthusiasti- cally received. As a testimonial to the work of the artists, the former curator of Catherine the Great’s Palace, and

Volume 79, SeptembedOctober 2004 309

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Uni

vers

ity o

f C

hica

go L

ibra

ry]

at 1

8:59

17

Nov

embe

r 20

14

Figure 18. The Amber Room as it appeared in 1991; author’s photo.

Figure 19. Postage stamps, issued in 2004, commemorating the reopenin! of the Amber Room. Courtesy Michael Leibov and Ludmila Cheshko.

now an Honored Scholar of Culture of Russia, A. Kuchu- mov, stated (Suprichev 1978):

The work of B. Blinov in his restoration of articles of the Amber Room . . . I believe . . . [in] principle and general direction of the reconstruction have been correctly undertaken. The fine details of the trim-the carved wreaths, the medallions, and other fea- tures-have been done at a high level of artistry, true to charac- ter. The minutest details not only concede nothing to the origi- nal, but in some cases surpass the thoroughness of detail. The result can stand on its own as a work of art.

In 1979, the Soviet Union began funding the Russian artists to reconstruct the Amber Room. In 1981, Dr. Alexan- der Krylov, whose work was highly professional with a fine- ly detailed quality, joined the team of amber masters called Tsarskoselskaya Yantarnaya Masterskaya.

By summer 1994 only about 30 to 40 pecent of the pan- els for the room were completed. The work was being con- tinued by architect A. Kendrinsky and master craftsmen Alexander Zhuravljov and Alexander Krylov. Even this work was not on display for visitors to the palace when I went there in 1994. At that time, only the gilded friezes were restored and in place. Also, painted simulations of amber wallpaper in trompe l’oeil technique lined the ceil- ing of the room. This was the same technique used by Ras- trelli to make the original panels fit in the large room in the Catherine Palace.

In February 1996, the American Museum of Natural His- tory in New York City, presented an amber exhibition and 310 ROCKS & MINERALS

featured the Russian amber workers who were restoring the panels. A portion of the exhibition re-created a corner of the restoration for visitors to see. Two completed amber panels and the amber corner table were installed. The detail of the mosaic panels was magnificent. The craftsmen set up their workshop in the museum and worked on a partially finished panel. It was interesting to see them using a hand- held hair dryer to soften beeswax to adhere amber platelets to the wooden base of the panel. I was told they had exam- ined incrustation work done by medieval guild amber workers to learn their secrets for adhesives and how to pre- pare amber by “clarification” and by dying the amber. The two lead Russian carvers had worked since 1986 developing techniques to reproduce exact copies of the panels using the same techniques and special beeswax adherents as the sev- enteenth- and eighteenth-century amber masters. When visiting the museum exhibition, people could observe Russian craftsmen carefully cutting each amber piece to the exact shape and thickness, then polishing and fitting the mosaic into place.

By 1997, a sample of an amber disk with a crown and the letter “R” in the mosaic as well as two mosaic amber panels were on display in the Amber Museum in Kaliningrad along with a large color photo of the original Amber Room. Dur- ing the 1997 Baltic Amber Symposium in Gdansk, Dr. Krylov, one of the artists who worked on the restoration at the Tsarskoye Selo palace, presented information on restora- tion and preservation of amber art, and then the entire group took a tour to Kaliningrad to see the mosaics.

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Uni

vers

ity o

f C

hica

go L

ibra

ry]

at 1

8:59

17

Nov

embe

r 20

14

By 1999, many of the panels had been reconstructed and about 40 percent were installed in the palace. The work of completing this project progressed slowly because of the breakup of the Soviet Union. This forced workers in St. Petersburg to purchase amber at a much higher price than when the centralized Soviet government provided it to the museum practically free. In 1996, amber craftsmen had to pay about $250/kilogram for raw amber. The project required a tremendous amount of amber-several tons-that had to be imported from amber mines in the Kaliningrad region of Russia. Only about 20 percent of the raw material was usable in the completed panels, with the remainder being waste material because of the crust, oxida- tion, and breakage. The Russian carvers needed other jobs to support their families, as they often were paid four or five months late. Even though the carvers tried to revive the old techniques, they still used current techniques to produce transparent amber. Ground amber can be melted under very high pressure to produce a high grade of transparent amber. As reconstructed panels were finished, they were gradually put in place and exhibited in the Tsarskoye Selo palace (Shedrinsky 1996).

The work on reconstruction faltered until, in 1999, Ger- many’s Ruhrgas firm, the largest importer of Russian gas, was contacted by Ivan Sautov. He encouraged Ruhrgas to sponsor finalizing work on the room so it could be com- pleted by May 2003, in time for St. Petersburg’s Three-Hun- dred-Year Jubilee. Ruhrgas executives called the project “a symbol of German-Russian understanding and friendship.”

Ruhrgas signed an agreement to donate $3.5 million to guarantee completion of the room’s restoration in time for the celebration. Altogether, as many as thirty artists devoted their working years since the project began in 1979. It was reported that it took eleven years just to research and revive the old techniques used and to study old photos to match at least thirteen various tints of amber. Modern black-and- white photographs were taken of various shades of amber and compared with prewar photographs to make the mosa- ic panels appear the same as the original ones. For the first twenty years, work was financed by the federal government and cost about $7.85 million. The funds from the German firm went to pay artisans and for materials.

In September 2002, Sautov told the Pravda Russian press: “Nearly all work in the Amber Room has been done by three master artists, the youngest already seventy. Regretfully, stonework skills are lost with time, so we are losing the unique artistic school.” However, the amber masters worked, funded by the pledge donation of the Ruhrgas company, to complete the room by the May 2003 deadline..On 13 May 2003, a council of experts chaired by Ahim Middelschulte, from the Ruhrgas executive board, and Culture Minister Mikhail Shvydkoi, director of the Tsarskoye Selo State Reserve Museum, met to sign a document declaring that the restoration of the famous Amber Room at the Catherine Palace in Tsarskoye Selo had been completed. Pravda report- ed that “the Amber Chamber was crucial for Russo-German relations and brought the nations closer not only with the allocated money but that the relations rested on a friendly basis.” Sautov (2003) reported the total cost of the recon- struction of the Amber Chamber to be $1 1,350,000, includ- ing the contribution of the Ruhrgas company.

On 31 May 2003, Russia’s President Vladimir Putin and Germany’s Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder presided over the public opening, with dignitaries from all over the world attending. In June, it was opened to the public as a signifi- cant part of the Three-Hundred-Year Jubilee of St. Peters- burg. Some of the few survivors who had seen the room before the war related that the new room was an improve- ment over the old, which had been decaying and had under- gone two renovations.

Meanwhile, the search to locate the hiding place where the original room was stored continues. Old war documents indicate that the amber panels were placed where they would not be harmed by the war bombardments. However, no one has yet found that location.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to thank Michael Leibov for reviewing the manu-

script and arranging for many of the photographs. I also thank photographer Alexander Minin and amber workshop director Boris Igdalov for the loan of photographs.

REFERENCES BBC News World Edition. 2003. Peter the Great’s Amber Room reborn. 14 May 2003. http://news.bbc.co.ukl2lhi/europe/3025833.stm.

Bolinski, K. 2002. The phoenix comes from the ashes like the recre- ation of the Amber Room. (In German and Polish) Warszawa: Ver- lag Novum.

31 1 Volume 79, September/October 2004

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Uni

vers

ity o

f C

hica

go L

ibra

ry]

at 1

8:59

17

Nov

embe

r 20

14

Glasser, S. B. 2003. Russia resurrects a gem: Reconstructed Amber Room premieres in gala. 31 May 2003. Sun Francisco Chronicle. http://www.sfgate.com/cgibin/article.c@?fle=/c/a/2003/ 05/3 1/MN 139859.DTLwe.pri.

Grabowska, J. 1983. Polish amber. Warsaw: Interpress, Polska Agencia. Interfax Politics. 2003. Famous Amber Room recreated outside St.

Petersburg. 4 May 2003. http://www.interfax,ru/one-news- en.html?=lang=EN&tz.

Pravda Online. 2002. RU:Culture. Famous Amber Room closes to visitors September 3 ti1 May next year. 2 September 2002. http://english.pravda.ru/culture/2002/09/0~/3~762.html.

PravdaRU Science and Culture. 2003. Memorandum on accom- plishment of Amber Chamber restoration signed in St. Peters- burg suburb. 13 May 2003. http://newsfromrussia.com/science/ 2003/05/13/46863.html.

Rice, P. C. 1996. Amber, the golden gem of the ages. New York: Koscuiscko Foundation.

Sautov, L,V. Akseonov, I. Morozow, I. Bagayev, and A. Ivanov. 2003. The case of the Amber Room: A Vitaly Akseonovfilm. DVD. Russia: Cul- ture and Communications of the Tsarkoye Selo Museum Preseve.

Shedrinsky, A. M. 1996. Amber-A lecture to the society on May 14,1996: An interview with Dr. Alexander Shedrinsky. American Society of Jewelry Historians Newsletter 19 (3): 5-26.

Shukman, D. August 1998. On the trail of the Amber Room. BBC News Online. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/ 143364.stm.

Suprichev, V. 1978. Amber-Talisman, medicine, ornament. (In Russian) Nuuku i Teckniku, 20-22 December 2003.

Titova, I. 2003. Looted Amber Room rebuilt from scratch. Moscow Times, 15 May 2003. http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/ 2003/05/ 15/0 14.html.

Zharkova, T. 2003. The Amber Room of big palace. Pushkin Tsurskoye Selo, 26 September 2003. http://www.pushkin town.net/.pushkin/eng/amberoom.html. cl

312 ROCKS & MINERALS

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Uni

vers

ity o

f C

hica

go L

ibra

ry]

at 1

8:59

17

Nov

embe

r 20

14