AMBER ROOM

The greatest masterpiece of the palace is the unparalleled Amber Room. To create this extraordinary room, Rastrelli used amber mosaic panels that at the beginning of the 18th century adorned the private study of Frederick I of Prussia, and were donated to Peter the Great in 1716.

After they had languished forgotten in a warehouse for almost 40 years, Rastrelli decided to set them into the walls of the Amber Room, inserting gilded carvings, mirrors, gemstone mosaics and new amber panels, adding up to a total of 450 kilograms of this precious stone. Unfortunately, the room was plundered by the Germans during the Second World War; it was rebuilt identical to the original after 1979. 

An interesting fact: in 1942, the Germans sent the panels stolen from the Amber Room to Germany, where they disappeared a few years later. In 1979, the Soviet government ordered the reconstruction of the room based on black and white photos and original drawings. Twenty-five years later, in 2004, at a cost of 18 million dollars and with the efforts of some forty experts, this masterpiece returned to enchant millions of tourists.