Is it possible to take a photo of the Amber Room?

The Tsarskoye Selo Museum-Reserve presented a new version of the Amber Room of the Catherine Palace. This is about VR-version, that is, an exact interactive copy of a unique interior. The magnificence can now be enjoyed in detail and nuance outside the walls of the imperial residence. So, with the help of special equipment, the interior of the Amber Room can be examined in great detail, bringing the image of any piece of decoration and pieces of furniture and decorative and applied art presented in the room as close as possible. That is, in the virtual space you can actually “touch” all this with your hands, examine it almost “under a microscope”, plus get information on the history of the room, the technique of execution and the materials from which its various parts are made.

By the way The developer of the VR version of the Amber Room was the Moscow company Stereoforma, which has been working on this project for a year. It is noted that “the uniqueness of the project lies in the difficulty of preserving the amber pattern, taking into account the reflective properties of the stone.” The work was financed by PJSC Gazprom.

Experts emphasize that three-dimensional scanning of the interior, 70 percent consisting of reflective, shiny and transparent surfaces (polished and in places almost transparent amber, numerous mirrors, gilded wood carvings), gave them a lot of problems.

“A combined approach was used to preserve the unique pattern of amber and the photorealism of the object – photogrammetric scanning followed by manual sculpting of the objects,” says the Tsarskoye Selo Museum-Reserve in a news release.

That is, to some extent, IT specialists followed the same path as the restorers – they “tinkered” in detail and painstakingly in 3D format with every curl of the interior of the Amber Room. It is argued that at the moment, in terms of the level of detail, the presented VR version has no analogues in the world, surpassing all museum virtual projects in this parameter.

By the way In 2019, Google Arts & Culture unveiled a digital model of the Palace of Versailles. The VR tour of the former residence of the French kings covers 21 rooms, 100 paintings, sculptures, other works of art and an adjacent park. Photogrammetry (determining the characteristics of an object from images) was also used to create a three-dimensional model. It took 132 thousand pictures using cameras and drones, textured 15 billion pixels and processed four terabytes of data.

At its presentation, museum workers and developers of the VR version of the Amber Room emphasized that it gives residents of the regions of Russia and other countries, who cannot come to Tsarskoe Selo for one reason or another, the opportunity to see a unique work of art in all its details. In the coming weeks, with the support of the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation, as part of the exhibition “Peter I. The Beginning of the Amber Road,” virtual reality helmets equipped with the project’s content will go to Kaliningrad, and then to Voronezh, Pskov and other cities of Russia. In the future, it is planned to make the VR version of the Amber Room available throughout the world, connect users located in different parts of the planet to a single virtual space and conduct online excursions. For your information:In Tsarskoe Selo, with Gazprom funds, the interior of the Lyon Hall was recreated and restoration work was completed in the Church of the Resurrection of Christ in the Catherine Palace. In Oranienbaum (State Museum “Peterhof”) 12 of the 17 interiors of the Chinese Palace have been restored.The Amber Cabinet was received as a gift from the Prussian king in 1717. Frederick William I (father FrederickIIGreat) Peter I. Initially, the panels were located in the St. Petersburg Winter Palace. At Empress Elizabeth Petrovna they were taken to Tsarskoye Selo. The room intended for the office in the Catherine Palace is significantly larger in area and ceiling height than what was assumed during the manufacture of the panels. That’s why Bartolomeo Francesco Rastrelli He introduced gilded wooden carvings, pilaster mirrors, and mosaic paintings into the decoration of the hall and thus managed to create from a relatively small office entirely in amber panels a spacious and very solemn room – the pearl of the Golden Enfilade of the Catherine Palace.The fate of the Amber Room, stolen by the invaders during the Great Patriotic War, remains a mystery to this day. In 1979, the Council of Ministers of the RSFSR adopted a resolution to recreate the masterpiece. The work carried out by specialists from the Tsarskoye Selo Amber Workshop lasted more than 20 years. On May 31, 2003, for the 300th anniversary of St. Petersburg, the interior, revived in full from raw materials extracted in the Kaliningrad region, was presented to the first visitors. The German company Ruhrgas also participated in financing the restoration of the Amber Room.Igor TeplovPhotographic materials were used from the website of the Tsarskoye Selo State Museum.

• Tags: Virtual space, St. Petersburg today, Project, Tsarskoe Selo, Amber Room

It’s hard to describe the Amber Room as “one of those masterpieces that attract tourists from all over the world to St. Petersburg.” Because this does not always happen: it happens that she is not “one of”, but on her own, alone, serves as a reason to come. Indeed, in addition to its obvious beauty (see photos below), the Amber Room also attracts with its unusual, rich and very mysterious history: it was given and transported, supplemented and disappeared, found and recreated. She’s a mystery. And the mystery is still unsolved.

Amber Room in Tsarskoe Selo: schedule, tickets, prices in 2024

Catherine Palace in Tsarskoe Selo

The Amber Room is located in the Catherine Palace. And is included in excursion routes. It is impossible to view only it separately, bypassing all other objects on display.

Even with all the desire: it is located in the middle of the palace. And there are no separate tickets to the Amber Room either. The outline of your visit is as follows:

– you buy a ticket to the Catherine Palace on route M1 or M2 (selected when purchasing a ticket);
– when visiting the palace, you walk through the halls either with a guide in a group (already included in the ticket price; the guide leads you if you meet the required minimum for your session), or with a guide you hired yourself, or with an audio guide, or even on your own;
– somewhere in the middle of any of these routes you will pass the Amber Room.

Let us say right away that you are allowed to “hang out” in it for only a few minutes, especially in the high season. The rangers can make an exception for groups that come from travel agencies, if time permits and if the guide, as they say, is “familiar” and “one of their own.”

Cost of tickets to the Catherine Palace (+park)

Citizens of the Russian Federation and EAEU states

• adult – 1100 rubles;
• students – 600 rubles;
• students over 14 years old – 600 rubles;
• Cadets, conscripts – 600 rubles;
• Combat veterans – 600 rubles;
• pensioners of the Russian Federation and EAEU states – 600 rubles;
• Members of the Association of Art Critics of the Russian Federation – 600 rubles;
• Employees of state museums of Russia and EAEU member states – 600 rubles;
• up to 14 years old – free of charge (without excursion services).

EAEU (Eurasian Economic Union) states: Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan.

Foreign citizens

• Adults – 1 rubles;
• Students – 900 rubles;
• Under 14 years old – free (with an entrance ticket).

For more information about ticket prices for preferential categories of citizens and foreigners, see the special material “Tickets and operating hours of museums and parks in Tsarskoe Selo.”

Opening hours of the Catherine Palace

• from 10:00 to 18:00. The box office closes at 16:45;
• day off Tuesday (sometimes there are exceptions);
• From November to March, sanitary day is the last Monday of the month.

History of the Amber Room

The Amber Cabinet, as the Amber Room was called in its first guise, was originally planned as one of the halls of the Litzenburg Palace in Berlin and was supposed to be a gift from King Frederick I of Prussia to his wife Sophia-Charlotte. The idea appeared in 1701, but never came to fruition: eight years later, Sophia-Charlotte passed away, and four years later, Frederick I himself.

By 1713 the cabinet still exists in separate panels and is not completely completed. The reason for such a long time in bringing the project to life is the fragility of amber, which makes it incredibly difficult to work with.

The material is very, very demanding, delicate. Not only brittle, but also difficult to process. Transforming it is relatively easy, but transforming it in the way necessary for the master, giving it the required shape, integrating elements into the panel – that’s what’s difficult.

Around these years, maybe in 1712 or 1713, amber panels are shown to the Russian Emperor Peter I. He, being a famous lover and collector of everything unusual, appreciates the work of art. And a few years later he received them as a gift from the son of Frederick I, Friedrich Wilhelm I. There is, however, information that the gift was generously paid for in manpower: Peter I sent Russian soldiers to the Prussian king.

Monogram of King Frederick I on the panels of the Amber Room

In 1717, the amber panels, after a long and difficult journey, ended up in St. Petersburg.

But even in our city, the amber cabinet remains hidden from human eyes for decades, although, it would seem, it was intended to be shown at least to courtiers and guests of the imperial court.

However, the demonstration did not happen: Peter I placed his valuable gift in the Summer Palace and did not seem to remember about it anymore. It doesn’t look like him at all! Quite a mystery. Perhaps it is explained by the fact that the Tsar-Emperor’s health towards the end of his life was no longer as strong as at the beginning of his reform career. And there were plenty of other things to do besides art and decorations.

The daughter of Peter I, Elizabeth I, orders the panels to be taken care of. By order of the Empress, they are transported to Tsarskoe Selo, which she chose as her residence. Elizaveta Petrovna energetically begins to develop the former Saar manor, which she inherited from her mother, Catherine I, sparing not only effort, but also money.

Large frame with medallions and cameos of biblical scenes with engraved landscapes and Florentine mosaics. Painting “Vision”

In order to make it beautiful and rich, many “exhibits” were needed, and not trivial ones, but befitting the imperial status. Lush splendor – this is how Elizabeth’s style can be characterized, which was reflected in particular in the decoration of the Catherine Palace (now it looks more modest). It was then that they remembered about the gathering dust of sunstone products, “titled” in the description with the German word das Bernsteinzimmer.

The room in the Catherine Palace, which they decided to turn into an amber room, turns out to be too large compared to the office. You will feel the scope and scale when you enter the hall.

Large frame with sculptural decoration. Painting “Touch and Smell”. Mid 18th century. Florentine mosaic

The panels require additional parts to “catch up” the volume to the parameters of the existing room. The task is not easy. Not only is the material itself, as we remember, capricious, but there are also no masters of it in Russia. They exist only in Prussia, on whose territory, in the area of ​​​​Konigsberg (the present-day Kaliningrad region), amber mainly “grows”.

Complex work on the material dragged on until 1771. Just imagine, 70 years pass from the conception to the first full exhibition of the finished masterpiece! This is almost twice as long as it took to build St. Isaac’s Cathedral, the most famous long-term construction in the history of Russia.

Part of the South Wall of the Amber Room

The finished room with furniture and decor is shown to the guests by Catherine II, who, ironically, was German by birth.

She ascended the throne in 1762, and continued the plans of her predecessors – Elizabeth to improve Tsarskoe Selo and Peter I to reform Russia. Moreover, being German, she certainly could not remain indifferent to the work of her compatriots. And the wait was worth it.

Historical documents tell of a magnificent spectacle: on the day the room was opened, the amber was illuminated by 565 candles, the flames of which were reflected in the sun stone, causing it to shine.

Northern and Eastern walls of the Amber Room

Interesting fact: Catherine II relied on Russian craftsmen. She considered the help of foreign specialists as a step towards the creation of a Russian school of amber. Very patriotic for the Russian empress of German origin, and fits well with her policy of “self-Russification” – converting to Orthodoxy and studying the Russian language.

But it is possible that the practical aspect also played a role: each time bringing craftsmen from their native, but still distant Germany, would take a long time, and it would be expensive, which did not fit into the German Ordnung.

Guests and residents of the Catherine Palace had the opportunity to admire the marvelous room for 170 years. All this time they looked after it, replaced individual elements, but did not radically change anything.

A whole school (not in the sense of an educational institution, but in the sense of an art direction) grew up in Tsarskoe Selo for working with amber. It couldn’t have been any other way. As we have already emphasized, amber is a fragile and delicate material. And besides, it is short-lived: over time it loses brightness and color. In general, it “goes out”, like vegetables and fruits darken. Sensitive to temperature. The Ministry of the Imperial Court and Appanages had to tinker.

In 1941, the Great Patriotic War began, the city of Pushkin was occupied by German troops in the fall. Museum workers at Tsarskoe Selo (since 1918, the Catherine Palace turned into a museum and was open to everyone) were unable to evacuate the Amber Room. The official version says that this was impossible to do without unacceptable damage to the exhibit: the panels crumbled when trying to remove them. Just imagine, transporting it somewhere by rail or road.

However, the Nazis somehow succeeded in such an evacuation. Let us remember that the history of the Amber Room originates in Berlin, and therefore the Germans considered it the creation of their ancestors and felt a desire to return it to their homeland.

However, even without German roots, her fate was predetermined: fascist troops, on Hitler’s orders, purposefully and methodically exported cultural assets to Germany from the occupied territories.

The interior and decoration of das Bernsteinzimmer were completely sent to Königsberg (remember once again, this is our today’s Kaliningrad). Apparently, the theft of the room was planned in advance, for which art experts were even brought to Pushkin.

Already at the end of 1941, the room was exhibited in Königsberg Castle, which was confirmed by photographs in the German magazine “Pantheon”. Moreover, only the original, “German” part of it, which was presented to Peter the Great, was exhibited in the castle. The “Russian” unit was sent to Berlin on Hitler’s orders.

In 1945, Soviet troops entered Konigsberg. They took the castle, but did not find a room in it. They will not find it later, with the exception of some elements, anywhere and never. What will turn the fate of the masterpiece into one of the biggest mysteries of the XNUMXth century.

Disappearance, search and reconstruction

The most common version is that the Amber Room was damaged by bombing and fire. It sounds logical: the castle was really bombed by British aircraft, and amber melts at high temperatures.

It is possible that the exhibit actually died in the fire. But many doubt it. To this day, other versions appear with varying degrees of sophistication and likelihood of being reliable.

One of them, for example, says that the panels were put into boxes and, under the guise of German museum trophies, transported to Germany in payment of the Soviet Union’s debt to the United States. And this happened by mistake. Other speculations focus on specific locations where the Amber Room might be. There are a huge number of such assumptions. There are mines, hiding places, caves, secret holes, basements, private collections, collectors, etc., etc., etc. Many places were examined. Nothing for now. The main versions are concentrated in the region of Kaliningrad, Poland and, of course, Germany.

If the Amber Room is still intact today, it is not known whether it continues to be in Germany or is stored somewhere overseas. Nothing can be assumed about the integrity of the amber, because in conditions of excessive humidity and heat, the fragile stone could be irreversibly damaged.

The Amber Room, of course, was searched for, but few people managed to make any progress in their search. But several people lost their lives. Among them is farmer Georg Stein. A native of Königsberg was a Wehrmacht soldier during the war and saw the Amber Room in the castle. In peacetime, he devoted himself entirely to finding a room and, they say, even achieved some success.

But he didn’t have time to publish the information received and died under strange circumstances. His body with his stomach ripped open was found in the forest not far from the house where he was staying at that time. The weapon lay nearby; it was a large knife.

The official version is suicide, but Georg’s friends do not believe in it, and they have the right: firstly, the knife was not brought from Stein’s home, and secondly, it was known that the man received letters demanding that he stop searching for the Amber Room.

The fate of state security major Ivan Kuritsa is also known. In 1945, he was investigating the fate of the room and died on the way to a meeting with a witness: he was riding a motorcycle along a road through which a wire was stretched. The major’s head was cut off.

At the same time, the witness himself was found strangled at home. There are too many coincidences, and those about which, if you saw them in a movie, you would say “well, that doesn’t happen!”

But not all stories are so tragic. In 1997, the Florentine mosaic “Touch and Smell” was discovered in Germany, which was part of the original creation and was cut from a panel by a German soldier back in 1941. A descendant of that soldier decided to sell the painting and was detained.

Now it is kept in the storerooms of Tsarskoe Selo, and a copy is exhibited for the public to see.

Then, in the 90s, under similar circumstances, an amber chest of drawers was discovered: they tried to sell it incognito at an auction, but art historians identified the piece of furniture from photographs. The chest of drawers also successfully returned to Russia.

To date, the mosaic and chest of drawers remain the only parts of the original Amber Room that have been found. True, they are kept in storage, and what you will see in the hall is a copy.

As, indeed, is everything that is presented in Pushkin’s Catherine Palace today. It’s a copy. A very good copy, so accurately and painstakingly assembled that without a doubt it deserves attention in itself.

The decision to recreate the Amber Room was made in 1979; work began almost immediately and was completed only in 2003, on the occasion of the tercentenary of St. Petersburg.

Yes, it took more than twenty years of active work to recreate the masterpiece. And six tons of amber.

But there is no doubt about the accuracy: historical photographs, and then the found mosaic, confirm that the dimensions were calculated down to the millimeter, which means today we can visit exactly the same Amber Room in which Catherine II and all subsequent emperors received guests.

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