The Amber Room was a room located in the Catherine Palace near Saint Petersburg, decorated with amber panels that contained gold leaf and mirrors as well. The room was intended for another palace, but was installed at this location, which was the summer palace of the Russian royals. Work on the panels began in 1701, and were designed by Andreas Schlüter. During World War II, curators attempted to hide the panels behind wallpaper to save them from thieves and keep the brittle amber from disintegrating. Unfortunately, that did not work, and the panels were set to be removed by the Germans. The area suffered an immense amount of fire bombing, and there are several theories as to what happened to the panels. Some said the panels were destroyed in the fire bombing, others say the Germans did remove them to somewhere, some said they were removed and then sunk via torpedo during transport. Thanks to photographs that were colorized, a reconstructed room was built so that people could see what the amazing work looked like.

I appreciated the author of this book doing the research into this amazing work of art. She went into great detail about all of the people involved in the disappearance of the room, as well as the construction of it. I didn't know a lot about the Amber Room before reading this book, other than it was a room in a Russian palace that vanished during World War II. So many beautiful and priceless art works were stolen from people, museums, and galleries in this era of insanity and cruelty. I love that a reconstructed room was made so that people in this modern era can get an idea of what this famous and mysterious room looked like. I would love to see it one day. If you are looking to learn more about this missing piece of history, this book was worth the read.