Amber has enthralled us for centuries because of the golden jewel-encrusted Amber Room, which was made of several tons of the gemstone.  A gift to Peter the Great in 1716 celebrating peace between Russia and Prussia, the room’s fate became anything but peaceful: Nazis looted it during World War II, and in the final months of the war, the amber panels which had been packed away in crates, disappeared.  A replica was completed in 2003, but the contents of the original, dubbed “the Eighth Wonder of the World” have remained missing for decades.

Golden Gift

Construction of the Amber Room began in 1701.  It was originally intended to be installed at Charlottenburg Palace, home of Friedrich I, the first King of Prussia.  Truly an international collaboration, the room was designed by the court architect of King Friedrich I, Iozander von Geothe and constructed by German and Danish craftsmen.  Peter the Great admired the room on a visit, and in 1716 the King of Prussia – then Frederick William I – presented it to Peter as a gift, cementing a Prussian-Russian alliance against Sweden.

The Amber Room was shipped to Russia in 18 large boxes and installed in the Winter House in St Petersburg as part of a European art collection.  In 1755 Czarina Elizabeth ordered the room to be moved to the Grand Palace in Tsarskoye Selo or “Czar’s Village.” Italian designer Bartolomeo Francesco Rastrelli redesigned the room to fit into its new, larger space, adding carvings, paintings, Florentine mosaics and an amber frame shipped from Berlin.

The craftsmen who reconstructed the Amber Room gave the initial inspiration to the Amber Egg.  All the design elements of this creation come from the Amber Room.  The Amber Egg is crystal adorned with the Imperial Crown with a cabochon ruby.

On opening the Egg a vermeil heart on an easel.   Open the heart to reveal red enamelling set with a rose and diamond.