The Amber Room

The Amber Room was an extravagant chamber adorned with amber panels, backed with gold leaf and intricate amber carvings, that was constructed in the early 18th century in Prussia as a gift for Russian Tsar Peter the Great. Considered one of the most valuable and ornate artworks in the world, sometimes called the “Eighth Wonder of the World,” it contained several tons of amber. The Amber Room met a mysterious fate when it was looted by Nazi forces in 1942 during World War II from its home in the Catherine Palace near St. Petersburg, disassembled, and transported to Königsberg, after which it simply disappeared without a trace, despite many attempts over the decades to locate and reconstruct this tragically lost masterpiece.