THE AMBER ROOM ONE OF THE WORLD'S GREATEST UNSOLVED MYSTERIES

1001 Heroes, Legends, Histories & Mysteries Podcast

Jon Hagadorn

Society & Culture, History

4.4 • 1.7K Ratings

🗓️ 10 May 2020

⏱️ 37 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The Amber Room was an ornate chamber decorated in custom crafted amber panels backed with gold leaf and mirrors and located in the Catherine Palace in Tsarke Selo near St. Petersburg. It was a gift from Prussia to Russia in the 18th century in order to promote an alliance against Sweden. It was stolen from the palace by Nazi Germany in WWII and moved to Konigsberg Castle in Germany, where some say it was destroyed by either Soviet or RAF bombing raids which destroyed most of that city. Konigberg was annexed by Russia and is called Kaliningrad. today. Many theories exist regarding the fate of the Amber Room and we cover them here, as well as provide additional research on Swedish and Argentine financing of the Nazi war machine, the sinking of the Wilhelm Gusloff with nearly 9,000 refugees onboard (and possibly the Amber Room in crates), and German theft of many priceless pieces of art, some of which were recovered by the "Monuments Men", and others which are still missing. NEW Enjoy 1001 Greatest Love Stories on Apple Devices here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/1001-greatest-love-stories/id1485751552 Enjoy 1001 Greatest Love Stories on Android devices here: https://www.stitcher.com/s?fid=479022&refid=stpr. Get all of our shows at one website: www.1001storiespodcast.com CALLING ALL FANS.. REVIEWS NEEDED SUPPORT OUR SHOW BY BECOMING A PATRON! www.patreon.com/1001storiesnetwork. Its time I started asking for support! Thank you. Its a few dollars a month OR a one time. (Any amount is appreciated). YOUR REVIEWS AND SUBSCRIPTIONS AT APPLE/ITUNES AND ALL ANDROID HOSTS ARE NEEDED AND APPRECIATED! LINKS BELOW... Open these links to enjoy our shows! APPLE USERS Catch 1001 RADIO DAYS now at Apple iTunes! https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/1001-radio-days/id1405045413?mt=2 Catch 1001 Heroes on any Apple Device here (Free): https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/1001-heroes-legends-histories-mysteries-podcast/id956154836?mt=2 Catch 1001 CLASSIC SHORT STORIES at iTunes/apple Podcast App Now: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/1001-classic-short-stories-tales/id1078098622 Catch 1001 Stories for the Road at iTunes/Apple Podcast now: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/1001-stories-for-the-road/id1227478901 ANDROID USERS- 1001 Radio Days right here at Player.fm FREE: https://player.fm/series/1001-radio-days 1001 Classic Short Stories & Tales:https://castbox.fm/channel/1001-Classic-Short-Stories-%26-Tales-id1323543?country=us 1001 Heroes, Legends, Histories & Mysteries: https://castbox.fm/channel/1001-Heroes%2C-Legends%2C-Histories-%26-Mysteries-Podcast-id1323418?country=us 1001 Stories for the Road:https://castbox.fm/channel/1001-Stories-For-The-Road-id1324757?country=us Catch ALL of our shows at one place by going to www.1001storiesnetwork.com- our home website with Megaphone. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	The Oh, Imagine, if you will, an entire palace room created from Amber. That beautiful honey-colored substance which is created from fossilized
0:36.1	pine resin, and which, when heated and then soaked in a mixture of honey, linseed, and resin, and molded into flat leaves can be pieced together by craftsmen
0:46.8	to create intricately carved panels which are placed upon gold-leaf boards which formed
0:52.0	the walls of a room. The result, a bright shining gold
0:56.4	masterpiece of a palace room fit for a king and a queen. And that's how an ambitious young sculptor and architect named Andrea Schluter who had
1:06.6	fallen out of favor with Queen Sophie Charlotte, the wife of Prussian King Frederick
1:10.9	the first, imagined it when it came upon a huge store of amber in the
1:15.4	sellers of the royal palace.
1:18.3	Schluters craftsmen labored for years to complete the intricately carved panels and boards of amber, but the project stalled after the deaths of Queen Sophie Charlotte and Frederick the first, until around 1712, when the panels were installed at the Berlin City Palace.
1:33.0	In 1716, Frederick William I, in a grand effort to create a Russo-Prussian alliance against Sweden,
1:41.0	gave the panels to the visiting Russian czar Peter the Great
1:44.6	who had showed a great admiration for the amber room upon visiting.
1:50.1	Peter well understood the value of this rare gift and returned the favor with the gift of 55 giants.
1:57.0	His regiment of men all over six feet tall, which was a rarity in those days,
2:02.0	as men only averaged about five foot 6 inches in height then,
2:05.5	and the panels were carefully removed, carefully wrapped and packaged,
2:09.5	and brought to the new city of St. Petersburg. The panels remained in storage until 1743,
2:16.7	when Peter the Great's daughter, Empress Elizabeth, had the amber room installed first
2:21.5	at the third winter palace and then moved to the Catherine
2:24.6	palace at Sarski Ciloh or the Sars Village just outside St. Petersburg where the Russian
2:31.0	Imperial family spent their summers.
2:34.0	Italian designer Bartolomeo Francesco Restrelli
	...

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