St. Petersburg, Amber Room at Catherine Palace

Russia - Sankt Petersburg
~ Amber Room at Catherine Palace ~
UNESCO World Heritage

Visitng the Catherine Palace, you'll also see the famous Amber Room. There are hardly words, to describe the stunning beauty of this incredible work of art. The most elaborate designs, made from different kinds of amber, reflect the light in all possible hues and give the room a golden glow.

The original Amber Room was ordered by Prussian king Friedrich I for his Palace at Charlottenburg. It was designed by German baroque sculptor Andreas Schlüter and constructed by the Danish amber craftsman Gottfried Wolfram.

In 1716 his son, Friedrich Wilhelm I, gave it to Tsar Peter the Great of Russia, for an alliance against Sweden and some tall soldiers for his army.

In Russia the work was still expanded and after all the Amber Room coveres more than 55 square meters and contains over six tons of amber!

In 1941, during World War II, the nazis dismantled the room and brought it to Königsberg, where its trace got lost in 1945.

On occasion of the 300-year anniversary of the city of Saint Petersburg in 2003 the new Amber room was inaugurated in the Catherine Palace, reconstructed by Russian craftsmen in decades of work from 1976 onwards.

Saint Petersburg

The copyright holder released the pictures of the Amber Room into the public domain. This applies worldwide