Rebirth of the Amber Room

It has been lost for decades. There are countless speculations about where it is and whether it still exists at all. Whatever may have happened to the legendary Amber Room, it can now be admired again. On 31 May, Russian President Vladimir Putin and German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder presented a reconstruction of the work of art to the public.

The Amber Room has an exciting history: it was originally commissioned by the pompous Prussian King Frederick I. The Amber Room is now open to the public. Wall panels made of millions of pieces of amber made it a much admired work of art. One of its admirers was Tsar Peter the Great. He received the Amber Room as a gift and had it transported to Petersburg in 1717.

During the Second World War, the work of art was stolen by German troops and brought to Königsberg. Packed in boxes, it ended up in the cellar of Königsberg Castle in 1944. That was its last known whereabouts. Whether it was destroyed by the fire in the castle or brought to safety in time is still a matter of debate today. For the original still remains missing.

But now the Amber Room is celebrating its “rebirth”: since 1976, around 50 artisans have been working on its reconstruction. On the occasion of the 300th anniversary of the city of St Petersburg, Russian President Vladimir Putin and German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder inaugurated the faithful replica of the Amber Room with a ceremony.

The Gold of the Baltic Sea – Amber

Even ancient people loved the shiny golden stone they discovered on the seashore: Amber. Because it is relatively soft and therefore easy to work, it has been made into beads, pendants and figurines since time immemorial. Amber was formed more than 50 million years ago from the resin of coniferous trees, which hardened when exposed to air. When the resin residues were washed over by seawater and covered airtight by sediments, they were transformed into the popular gemstone over millions of years. And because there is a particularly large amount of amber on the Baltic coast, the beautiful stone has earned the name “Gold of the Baltic”.

Sedimentary rocks

Some rocks look as if they are striped. In the Dolomites, for example, such transverse bands are often clearly visible. Sandstone or limestone quarries also sometimes have similarly pretty patterns.

The “stripe design” is already created during the formation of the rock. The starting material is weathering debris that is carried away by water or wind. Rivers, glaciers and dust storms lose their power at some point: river courses slow down towards their mouths and eventually flow into the sea or a lake. Glaciers advance into warmer regions and melt. Dust storms also weaken at some point. Then they can no longer carry dust, sand and debris. The crushed rock that is dragged along settles. Over time, the deposited material forms an ever higher layer – the sediment. Especially on the seabed and on the bottom of lakes, where rivers wash up a lot of material, such sediments accumulate, including remains of dead animals or calcareous shells.

Gradually, different sediments are layered on top of each other. One layer may consist of sandstone, for example: In dry times, the wind has blown desert sand onto it. When the sea level rises again, this layer is covered by water: calcareous shells of marine animals sink to the seabed and deposit another layer on top of the sand. Over millions of years, the climate changed again and again, causing the sea level to fluctuate. This allowed different layers to be deposited.

Over time, the sediment cover becomes thicker and thicker. Under the weight of their own weight, the initially loose sediments are compressed more and more, small cavities disappear, the mass thickens. Further layers are deposited on top, the sediment becomes increasingly solid and finally, under pressure, sedimentary rock. In geology, this process is also called diagenesis. If, for example, the shells of tiny marine animals are pressed into stone, limestone is formed. Fine grains of quartz sand cement together under high pressure to form sandstone.

In addition to debris, dead animals, for example fish, also settle on the seabed. Sealed airtight, their bones and scales were preserved and fossilised. Such fossils have immortalised themselves in the stone. Even after millions of years, they reveal a lot about the time when the sediment was formed. This is why geologists can read the rock layers like a history book.

Normally, only the top layer is visible to us. However, when a river digs through the sedimentary rock, it is uplifted during mountain building or blasted free in a quarry, we get a view of the cross-section. The individual sediment layers are then clearly visible as “stripes” or bands in the rock.

Cycle of the rocks

No rock on earth is made to last forever. It weathers on the surface, is transported away and deposited again. When two plates collide, sedimentary layers are compressed and folded into high mountains. The rock of submerging plates melts in the earth’s interior and forms the source of volcanoes. Lava spewed out by a volcanic crater cools in turn and solidifies back into rock.

It is an eternal cycle that ensures that even the hardest rock is transformed again and again and new things are created from it. Of course, this transformation does not happen overnight, but over millions of years. The “players” in this cycle are three groups of rocks, each of which is formed under different conditions:

When magma cools, the hot mass solidifies into magmatic rock. This can happen both on the Earth’s surface and in its interior. Where layers of eroded rock debris accumulate, on the other hand, the sediments are compressed under the weight of their own weight. This pressure causes them to solidify into sedimentary rock. High pressure and great heat in the Earth’s interior in turn cause rocks to transform and form another. Geologists then speak of metamorphic rock.

These three rock types are closely connected: Each type can change into any other. This rock cycle will go on and on as long as the Earth exists.

Gemstones

Whether green emerald, blue sapphire or red ruby: we know gemstones as sparkling and particularly valuable pieces of jewellery. Yet gemstones are simply minerals. However, they have to fulfil three conditions to be considered precious stones: They must be particularly rare, transparent and at the same time very hard.

Gemstones are formed deep inside the earth under high pressure and at high temperatures. The hardest among them and at the same time the hardest known mineral is the diamond. It forms at a depth of about 150 kilometres at temperatures of over 1200 degrees Celsius from a single element: carbon. In the process, crystals develop from mostly eight equilateral triangles, called octahedrons. Other shapes such as cubes are also possible. The diamond comes to the earth’s surface by being thrown upwards together with rising magma. The largest diamond ever found is the so-called “Cullinan”. It was discovered in 1905 in a South African mine and weighed exactly 3106.75 carats in its rough state. This corresponds to a weight of 621.35 grams.

Whether diamond, amethyst, emerald or topaz – all gemstones differ from each other in structure, composition and colour. They all only become particularly beautiful and shiny through the cut. It makes the colours of the gemstones really shine through a certain refraction of light.

In addition to gemstones, other gemstones such as blue lapis lazuli or green malachite are found in the earth’s crust. While these are also highly sought after and beautiful, they are not transparent and are too common to be considered gemstones.

Largest diamond ever found!

A rough diamond larger than any known diamond on earth was found in a South African mine on Thursday. This record-breaking gemstone weighs a total of 3106 carats. It was discovered by Frederick Wells, the mine’s inspector.

It happened late in the afternoon during a routine inspection at the Premier Mine near Pretoria. On his tour of the mine, Frederick Wells saw something light up above him. Wells became curious and looked closer. Could the shimmering thing really be a huge diamond? He managed to detach the stone from the wall and still wasn’t sure if it wasn’t a piece of glass that was fooling him. Investigations, however, could prove that he was really dealing with a diamond. What’s more, it was the largest ever discovered on earth. The precious lump has exactly 3106.75 carats. That corresponds to a weight of 621.35 grams or a little more than 6 bars of chocolate.

Frederick Wells is now to receive a “finder’s reward” of 10,000 dollars for his sensational discovery. The largest diamond of all time will be named after mine owner Sir Thomas Cullinan: the famous “Cullinan Diamond” is already being talked about everywhere.

The “imperishable

Its sparkle has driven many a person out of their mind – or at least out of a fortune. No wonder, because the diamond is the most valuable of all gemstones. And not only that: it is the hardest known mineral. That is why this dazzling gem is also called “the imperishable”. Legends and myths surround this rare jewel. Famous diamonds such as the “Hope” or the “Florentine” are even said to be cursed, bringing misfortune and death to their owners. For others, however, the diamond is a symbol of eternal love, wealth and power.