The Amber Room or Chamber

This is a reconstruction of the Amber Room completed in 2003.  It is on display at the Tsarskoye Selo State Museum Reserve outside St.Peretersburg.

Brief History.

Before it was lost, the Amber Room was dubbed the 'Eighth Wonder of the World'.  Construction began in 1701 to 1711 in Prussia.  The designers; German baroque sculptor Andreas Schluter and Danish amber craftsman Gottfried Wolfram worked on it until 1707, then work was continued by amber masters Gottfried Turau and Ernst Schacht from Danzig.  Known then as the Amber Cabinett, it remained in the Berlin City Palace until 1716 when it was given by the Prussian king Friedrich Wilhelm I to his ally, Tsar Peter the Great of the Russian Empire.  In Russia it was expanded and after several renovations, it covered more than 55 square metres and contained over six tons of amber.  It was finished in 1755 and restored in 1830.  The Amber Room was looted by invading forces during World War Two and brought to Konigsberg where it was lost during the chaos at the end of the war.

Conspiracies and Curses.

There have been numerous conflicting reports and theories regarding what happened to the room, among them that it was destroyed by bombing, hidden in a now lost subterranean bunker in Konigsberg, buried in mines in the Ore Mountains or taken onto a ship which was sunk by Soviet forces in the Baltic Sea.

Many people connected with the room have met with untimely deaths.  Whilst the KGB was investigating a man and his wife who were considered to have information about the room, they died suddenly of typhus.  General Gustav, a Russian intelligence officer was killed in a car crash after he talked to a journalist about the Amber Room but the most disturbing of all, Amber Room hunter and former German soldier Georg Stein, was murdered in a Bavarian forest in 1987.

The Amber Room appears in my second novel 'The Gordian Knot', which is part of 'The Torc Trilogy'.  Jack Harrington, searching for the room, is led to the Sea of Azov after investigating the sinking of the ship Wilhelm Gustloff.  He and Dr Orlagh Gairne are drawn into another adventure involving the Belgae Torc and the sinister 'Phoenix Legion'.

In order to improve my knowledge of this subject, I am about to read a novel 'The Amber Room' by Steve Berry.  Hopefully this book will explore the various conspiracy theories surrounding this subject and give me a solid grounding that I can use along with my other research to further the continuing plot.
I discovered the sinking of the Wilhelm Gustloff and references to The Amber Room quite by chance when researching other avenues for my next book.  I am fascinated to know more and use my knowledge to spice up the historical content of my novels.