Most valuable furniture missing
- Who
- Unknown
- What
- 142000000-155000000 US dollar(s)
- When
- 1945
The Amber Room, presented to Peter the Great of Russia by Friedrich Wilhelm l of Prussia in 1716, was installed in the Catherine Palace at Tsarskoye Selo, near St Petersburg, Russia, between 1755 and 1757. In 1941, the invading Nazis dismantled the room and took it back to Germany where it was reassembled in the castle at Konisberg, East Prussia (now Kaliningrad, Russia). The Amber Room was crated up and placed in storage in 1945 and has since disappeared. It was valued at between $142-155 million (£93-102 million) shortly before the return of an amber chest of drawers to Russia by the German government in April 2000, as part of ongoing discussions between the two countries on the restitution of arts stolen during World War II.
A single panel surfaced in Germany in 1997, kindling hopes of the room being rebuilt. A unique decorative scheme, it consisted of intricately carved amber panels together with richly decorated chairs, tables and amber ornaments.
The amber room was NOT a present from Frederick William I of Prussia to Catherine the Great. Rather it was a present to Peter the Great whose wife was also Catherine BUT Catherine the First. Catherine II was later named the Great.
The amber room was NOT a present from Frederick William I of Prussia to Catherine the Great. Rather it was a present to Peter the Great whose wife was also Catherine BUT Catherine the First. Catherine II was later named the Great.