by Michael E. Donnelly, Ph.D

Peter accepted the gift but never did anything with these massive amber panels. They were stored and most likely forgotten, or they were put aside with some future project that Peter had in mind but never got around to finishing because of his untimely and unexpected death.

When his daughter became the Tsarina of all of the Russia as they used to say, she knew exactly what to do with this treasure trove of pure amber. She gave orders that a special room would be created within Tsarskoye Selo (more popularly known in the West as Ekaterina the Great's Summer Palace). When the room was completed it became the most important artistic work in all of Russia. Russian monarchs enjoyed showing the room off to all visiting dignitaries for more than two centuries. Since it was never envisioned that anything could possibly happen to it the room was almost never photographed. Fortunately there were two fairly good pictures that were taken that survived the ravages of WWII, thus making it possible to reconstruct the fabulous treasure.

When the Germans captured the area surrounding the newly renamed city that was now known as Leningrad, they besieged the former Tsarist capitol for nearly 1000 days but were never able to conquer the city. This was a huge disappointment to Adolph Hitler but when the Germans were forced to abandon the siege they took revenge in a very heinous way. They did their absolute best to destroy the most beautiful palaces built by the Romonovs so that the former glory of the dynasty that lasted for 300 years would never be seen again. They burned, blew up, and robbed the palaces of every vestige of former splendor.

When they stripped the Amber Room and loaded it on a train bound for Germany they knew full well that they were stealing the very soul of Russian culture and the one treasure that was dearest to the Russian people. As history tells us the war did not go well for Germany, and they were treated to a very similar fate when the vengeful Red Army descended upon the German mainland. The Russians were able to recover countless treasures that had been appropriated by German soldiers for various leaders of the Army and the German government. In addition they in turn "liberated" many treasures of Germany and objects of art from other European nations that had also been relocated by German forces.

Needless to say, the Amber Room was high on the Russians list of national treasures to be found and returned to the Motherland. The Russians spent millions of dollars and countless man hours searching for the Amber Room but were unable to ever find it. The notorious Stassi of East Germany spent years looking for their Russian masters but they too had no luck. The actual value of the Amber Room is unquantifiable but I have heard estimates that range from truly priceless to billions of dollars.

It is true that over the years countless Indiana Jones treasure hunters, government agencies, shady types of all ilk's, and others, have spent veritable fortunes chasing down rumors, forged documents, official references to the treasure, but all with no success. There have even been eye witnesses that testified the room was destroyed by allied bombing. However, since there is no official document that has ever been found that proves the room was destroyed, the consensus is that the room survives to this day. Many underground bunkers and lake bottoms have been searched with no results. As the years wane and the people that might know have died many feel as if it will take a miracle to unravel the secret of the Amber Room's location.

Adding fuel to the controversy of the room's whereabouts occured when one of the identifiable panels of the Amber Room was located by a person in an attic in the German town of Bremen. A lawyer was arrested while trying to get a $2.5 million dollar letter of credit for the panel from an undercover policeman in the early 1990s. After his arrest, he denied any knowledge that the panel was from the Amber Room. Then a few years later another piece or two from the room showed up on the market, one piece even going up for auction at Christies Auction House. In spite of these tantalizing developments the room has never been recovered.

Most of the remaining experts believe that the Amber Room is hidden near the German town of Weimer. In that part of Germany there are mass graves that contained the bodies of Russian soldiers that were buried before the Russian Army arrived in that part of Germany. There are mysterious drawings carved into trees filled with bullets chest high where executions may have taken place of the unfortunates who may have had the task of hiding the treasure. There are tales of death camp inmates that went into underground caverns heavily laden with heavy objects that never again saw the light of day. This also is near the ancestral home of Field Marshall Koch who was responsible for the looting of many objects of art in the area in and around the city that is now known as St. Petersburg once more.

What is known is that the Russians despaired of ever finding the room again and in 1983 began the exhausting task of recreating the Amber Room in all its splendor. Finally in 2003, the task was completed and the replacement room once again graces the hallowed halls of Tsarskoye Selo. It is a favorite of every foreign tourist and every Russian lucky enough to tour the palace. I have seen the room while it was being created and have seen it countless times since its completion. I fully understand the importance to Russia to once again have an intact Amber Room. When you go to Russia, even if it is not with us, or you do the cruise by boat option, you simply must insist that your guide take you to the Amber Room where you too will be touched by this true wonder of the world!