The Story of the AMBER ROOM | Lost Treasure of World War 2 | Historical Mystery | History Calling

The story of the AMBER ROOM and its fate is one of the greatest mysteries of history. In this week’s video from History Calling we look at perhaps the most famous lost treasure of World War 2, starting with the question, what was the Amber Room?

The history of the Amber Room began in 1701 when it was commissioned by King Frederick I of Prussia, though it was not completed in 1709. After Frederick’s death, his son and heir, King Frederick William I of Prussia, gifted the room to Tsar Peter the Great of Russia in 1716 in exchange for military aid in his war with Sweden. The room was then transported to St Petersburg where it arrived in early 1717. After decades in storage, in 1755 Peter’s daughter, Elizabeth Petrovna, ordered the room installed in Ekaterininsky Palace (Catherine’s Palace) in Tsarskoye Selo (Tsar’s Village), also known as Pushkin and continued to add more items to it. It remained there until the middle of World War II, when, in 1941, the Nazis invaded. Attempts to hide the Amber Room beneath wallpaper, gauze and cotton wool failed and it was dismantled and carted off to the Königsberg Royal Castle Museum where it was on display between 1942 and 1943. With Germany losing the War however, the room was boxed up and last seen in the Castle in 1943 and mentioned as being in tact in September 1944, despite heavy Allied air raids in August which had reduced much of the building to rubble. When the Russians took the premises in April 1945 however (after damaging it even further), it was gone and an historical mystery was born. The question of what happened to the Amber Room has puzzled investigators ever since. Some think it was destroyed in the bombings, some that it was put onboard a ship named the Wilhelm Gustloff which was later torpedoed and sunk in the Baltic Sea, others that it is still out there somewhere, waiting to be found. In this video, we’ll look at what we know and what we don’t know about the fate of the Amber Room and ask, was the Amber Room ever found, even in part, or has it entirely disappeared? We’ll also look at the new Amber Room, completed in 2003 to replace this lost piece of Russian history.

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THUMBNAIL IMAGE: Amber Room of the Catherine Palace, Wikimedia Commons, jeanyfan, public domain

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[dsgarey]

I have been to Catherine Palace and saw the Amber Room reconstructed. I wasn’t aware of the complete story. The whole palace was breathtaking. Thanks for your videos. I really enjoy them!

[SelinaCat]

I have a history degree, love art history too. I'm Jewish, so all that equals A LOT of WW2. And yet despite decades of all that, I've NEVER heard of this room! I LOVE your content. I feel like it's history documentaries for academics. Thank you!

[LEredridinghood]

One of my fav history mysteries! Living for the primary sources, HC!

[berettax]

I remember watching a documentary on the History Channel about this subject. Your version has so much more information and factual notes than the TV version. Your work is very impressive and I hope you keep it up. I have always been a history buff and your channel helps fuel that interest. Greeting from Ecorse, Michigan USA.

[jamesturner]

We were in St Petersburg in 2003 and just happened to visit Pushkin and the Palace in the spring. We saw the new Amber room very shortly after it was opened for viewing. Unforgettable!!

[Marie]

I actually saw some craftsmen working on the remaking of the amber room at an exhibition of the royal families relics. It was so interesting and such tiny detailed work those craftsmen deserve a lot of accolades.

[stephencarrillo]

Fascinating! My wife is from St. Petersburg so she's of course familiar with the lore of the Amber Room. Thanks so much for this well-researched peek at a historical treasure. Keep the videos coming, please. I look forward to them every week.

[ThreeTorties]

This is one of my favorite art history mysteries! I agree, it didn’t burn, it would have smoked and smelled SO distinctively.

[nvkotian]

Thank you so much for giving almost full information about Amber Chamber. Hope the mystery will one day be solved. - Love from Mumbai, India 🇮🇳

[Calla-slgd]

Thank you much for this video. I've been an armchair traveler almost all my life (close to 70 years), and the Amber Room is something I learned about quite a few years ago. Sadly, I feel as you about its whereabouts now ~~ if anything is found, it will be bits and pieces and not much of that. It makes me very happy that present day Germany made the effort to restore the Amber Room. It is absolutely stunning! Thanks again for the video!

[Tyler]

Typhus and for some reason in those days it was not hard to get Cyanide. You have a great channel and I look forward to your very informative videos..

[jaclyn]

Wow. I never heard of the Amber Room before, thank you for this video!

[wwirelesswwizard]

I'm glad you covered this topic. I've actually been reading a book called "Jewels: A Secret History" by Victoria Finlay. The first chapter of the book focuses on amber and even explains the major points of the history of the Amber Room. So when I saw that you made this video, I was really happy. It's nice to hear the story of this incredible work of art in more detail.

[roscluaran]

Thank you very much for sharing the fascinating history and unsolved mystery of the Amber Room.

[marijeangalloway]

This was fascinating; I have never heard before of the Amber Room. I mourn its probable fate as another beautiful creation lost to the senseless destruction of war. It is good to know that a re-creation of it in some form has been done, to recall the memory of the lost original. I wonder if you have already made a video on the history of the fabled Gold of Troy, which was found by German Heinrich Schliemann in 1873 in Turkey, secretly removed by him from that country, and given to a Berlin museum, and from which it disappeared during the fall of that city in 1945. It was suspected that the Soviets had seized it and removed it to Russia (again, Germany and Russia!). There is a famous photo of Schliemann's young Greek wife wearing "Helen's Jewels." if you haven't already, please do a piece on this ancient and unique treasure, what it was and its intriguing and checkered history.

[dorym]

I had not seen this video before. Never hear of the Amber Room before. Fascinating topic. ❤❤❤❤

[tabby]

Given the facts on amber, whatever was stolen decades ago is probably long gone. Gone to either time and the elements or human destruction. I feel the best we can hope for is confirmation to it’s demise.

[wellingtonsboots]

I hadn't heard of this room before. But I don't think we're ever going to find it. Just another thing lost to war. Thank you, I'm a Tudor fan and that drew me to your channel but this was interesting.

[simonac.]

I did subcribe cause your channel has great content...and a good sleeping voice...no offense and thank you 😊

[vernon]

Great video, I love how will do different stories as there is a lot of interesting history out there that people don't know a lot about. I like you I do hope it is out there somewhere and didn't get destroyed.