WARSAW, May 30 /TASS/. Poland will start searching for Russia’s precious Amber Room near a German World War II bunker in Mamerki, northeastern Poland, a place which was the headquarters of the Vermakht’s ground troops command during the war, Bartlomiej Plebanczyk, the head of the Mamerki Museum, told TASS on Monday.
"A treaty with the local authorities for starting the works is to be signed on Tuesday," Plebaczyk said. "It will take two weeks for the decision to come into force," he added noting the search operation might start by June 15 if everything went well.
The bunker is located about 62 miles from Russia’s Kaliningrad region, which was the German region of Koenigsberg before and during the war, where the Nazis brought the Amber Room from Russia’s Catherine Palace near St. Petersburg in 1941.
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Tests by earth-penetrating radars in one of the bunker’s tunnels suggested there were hollows in the soil. Explorers are planning to drill a small well in the ground and descend video cameras to inspect those hollows.
Employers of the Mamerki Museum believe that the 18-th century Amber Room, made of amber panels and gold leaf, which went missing during WWII may be hidden there. The Amber Room is a gift of King Frederick Wilhelm I of Prussia to Russian Emperor Peter the Great. The room was brought to St. Petersburg in 1717 and was fitted into Russia’s Catherine Palace in the Tsarskoye Selo imperial residence. Architect Bartolomeo Rastrelli added gilded carving, mirrors and mosaic panels made of agate and jasper to the room’s interior decoration under the rule of Empress Elizabeth of Russia (born 1709-died 1761), the daughter of Emperor Peter the Great. The Amber Room remained intact for about 200 years. It was stolen by German fascists who occupied Tsarskoye Selo during WWII.