Peter I received the Amber Room from Frederick Wilhelm I in 1716. Until the 1750s. the room was located in the Winter Palace, but then was moved to Tsarskoe Selo. The image of the office consisted of a three-tiered composition, laid out from a mosaic, which represented 5 senses: sight, hearing, taste and smell.
For the first time, it was in the Amber Room that the masters used the mineral to create panels and mosaic paintings, before that it was used only as a decorative element. Peter I, while traveling to Europe, learned about such a miracle and wished to have it in his collection. When he met the Prussian king, he received the Amber Cabinet as a gift.
The history of the construction of the Amber Room
How the amber panels were delivered to St. Petersburg deserves a separate story, but Peter, seeing the gift, was upset. The fact is that not everything was ready for installation, many details were missing.
Only in 1743, large-scale work began on the manufacture of parts and fitting the panel to the dimensions of the hall reserved for the room. A few years later, the Amber Room became the official study where foreign ambassadors were received.
In 1753, the Winter Palace was rebuilt, and the Amber Room was literally transferred to Tsarskoe Selo. Here, the installation work began almost anew, because the room stood out much more than in the Winter one. So the Amber Room received a new look, which, of course, delighted everyone who had a chance to visit it.
The fate of the Amber Room during the Great Patriotic War
Having reached the Catherine Palace, the Nazis devastated all the premises, including the office, which was exhibited for review in the Konigsberg castle. After the fire, all the panels were packed and hidden in the basement; the Amber Room was never restored anywhere else.
Search for the Amber Room
After the invasion of Germany by Soviet troops and the end of the war, research began to find the missing Amber Room. There were different opinions: either the office did not survive the fire, or it did, but where could it be then? New hypotheses are periodically put forward, it is assumed that it was exported far beyond the borders of Germany. Dozens of researchers were sent in searches, archival data were studied, but the searches were never crowned with success, the room disappeared.
Rebirth of a masterpiece
From 1979 to 2003, diligent and painstaking work was carried out to restore the Amber Room. For the production of the lost panels, a special workshop was created, where dozens of craftsmen worked on the reconstruction of a seemingly lost history. Now any visitor to St. Petersburg, having gone to Tsarskoe Selo, can see with his own eyes a copy of what at one time aroused awe and awe, and at the same time pride and a sense of greatness.
