Is it possible to make art out of petrified tree sap? The answer is a resounding yes!
The legendary Amber Room took 9-10 years to create (1701-1709) and was an entire chamber or room that used thin sheets of amber backed with mirrors and gold leaf. It took 6 tons of amber to create the room which is also considered one of the great masterpieces of art history. Vegas only wishes it had half the bling of this place. Commissioned by Prussian King Friedrich Wilhelm I, this amazing feat of art and artistry was conceived of and designed by the German sculptor and architect Andreas Schluter (c. 1664-1714). This extraordinary creaton was originally housed at Charlottenburg Palace in Prussia until it was gifted to Tsar Peter the Great of Russia as a way of strengthening their alliance against Sweden.
So let’s fast forward to World War II when Adolph Hitler and the Nazi Party of Germany were looting and plundering the great art of Europe. Allegedly, the Amber Room was one of the great works that they seized and perhaps brought to Konigsberg, a small country squished between Lithuania and Poland on the Baltic Sea.
This is where the trail of our mystery grows cold. No one has seen the original Amber Room since it disappeared some 50 years ago. There is enough belief that this infinite treasure still exists that there is a non-profit organization that has sprung up to focus it’s funds on finding the Amber Room.
And just like any good mystery, there are a number of theories that have evolved as to where the Amber Room may lie or it’s ultimate fate. Some say the Amber Room is still in crates hidden somewhere underneath former Communist Germany in an old brewery, bunker, castle or cave. Others say that the Amber Room was on a ship that sank or was destroyed by fire. Whatever the case, the Amber Room remains one of the great art history mysteries.
The Amber Room has been so missed that it was lovingly recreated using the only known black and white photographs, in 2003 in the Catherine Palace at St. Petersburg, Russia.
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amber_Room
Email correspondence with webmaster at the Amberroom.org
The legendary Amber Room took 9-10 years to create (1701-1709) and was an entire chamber or room that used thin sheets of amber backed with mirrors and gold leaf. It took 6 tons of amber to create the room which is also considered one of the great masterpieces of art history. Vegas only wishes it had half the bling of this place. Commissioned by Prussian King Friedrich Wilhelm I, this amazing feat of art and artistry was conceived of and designed by the German sculptor and architect Andreas Schluter (c. 1664-1714). This extraordinary creaton was originally housed at Charlottenburg Palace in Prussia until it was gifted to Tsar Peter the Great of Russia as a way of strengthening their alliance against Sweden.
So let’s fast forward to World War II when Adolph Hitler and the Nazi Party of Germany were looting and plundering the great art of Europe. Allegedly, the Amber Room was one of the great works that they seized and perhaps brought to Konigsberg, a small country squished between Lithuania and Poland on the Baltic Sea.
This is where the trail of our mystery grows cold. No one has seen the original Amber Room since it disappeared some 50 years ago. There is enough belief that this infinite treasure still exists that there is a non-profit organization that has sprung up to focus it’s funds on finding the Amber Room.
And just like any good mystery, there are a number of theories that have evolved as to where the Amber Room may lie or it’s ultimate fate. Some say the Amber Room is still in crates hidden somewhere underneath former Communist Germany in an old brewery, bunker, castle or cave. Others say that the Amber Room was on a ship that sank or was destroyed by fire. Whatever the case, the Amber Room remains one of the great art history mysteries.
The Amber Room has been so missed that it was lovingly recreated using the only known black and white photographs, in 2003 in the Catherine Palace at St. Petersburg, Russia.
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amber_Room
Email correspondence with webmaster at the Amberroom.org
