Thursday, March 25, 2010

The Amber Room


The Amber Room: The Fate of the World's Greatest Treasure
by Cathy Scott-Clark [940.531 Sco]

It is a well known fact among art aficionadoes that the Nazis looted a great deal of art from European museums, private collections, etc. during World War II. After the war, many of the art treasures were returned to their owners. Some are still trickling back to their owners to this day. And some are lost. Perhaps the most famous of the lost art treasures is the fabulous Amber Room. The room was a joint project in the 1700s of German and Russian talent. It's original home was in the Charlottenburg Palace in Prussia. Peter the Great of Russia expressed an admiration for the room and in 1716, Friedrich Wilhelm I presented it to Peter. During World War II, it was taken from Leningrad to Konigsberg in Germany. Konigsberg was heavily bombed late in the war and the Amber Room was never seen again. Was it destroyed by the bombing? Some of the art in Konigsberg was removed to saftey. Could the Amber Room have been saved? This book examines the various theories about what happened to the priceless room-- (one theory puts the room in an underground mine in Poland) and draws its own conclusions. -- recommended by Rianne S. - Bennett Martin Public Library

[ Wikipedia page about the actual Amber Room ] | [ official author page for these authors ]

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