Incredible images show treasure chests inside sunken Nazi warship that could contain long-lost £250m Amber Room gold
AMAZING photos show treasure chests in a sunken Nazi warship that could contain the famous long-lost £250million Amber Room's gold.
Condemned to the ocean floor since April 1945, it's hoped the World War II steamer Karlsruhe will reveal what happened to the missing panels of amber, gold, and jewels.
In October, a team of Polish divers announced they'd found the wreckage of an almost intact Karlsruhe.
The vessel sank to the bottom of the Baltic Sea after being bombed by Soviet planes, with the loss of hundreds of civilian and military lives.
For the past few months the Baltictech team has been exploring the wreckage, and found what they believe are pieces of the Amber Room.
Baltitech said: "After a thorough inspection of the seabed around Karlsruhe, we were able to confirm the presence of a second wreck, only 550metres away from 'our' steamer.
"Further research will show whether it is a unit related to the events of April 13, 1945.
"As we expected, a lot of equipment spilled around the wreck, especially in front of its bow.
"At the bottom, we found ten chests and a lot of other trinkets.
"Some of the chests were open. The content of one of them - special rubber gaskets - gives you hope that they are some valuable items, maybe paintings?"
The Amber Room was a "dazzling space panelled with tonnes of finely carved amber, gold, and jewels dubbed by some an 'eighth wonder of the world'," explains Radio Free Europe.
A German army unit plundered the room - made for King Frederick I of Prussia, modern-day Gdansk, Poland, between 1701 and 1714 - before destroying most of Catherine Palace near St Petersburg.
But, the priceless treasure strangely disappeared after being looted by Nazi forces.
With the mystery of its exact whereabouts exciting treasure-hunters for more than 70 years, it's hoped the shipwreck holds the remains of the tsarist-era chamber.
GIA, an institution with expertise on diamonds, coloured stones, and pearls, says the Amber Room is considered by many historians "the pinnacle of amber craftsmanship".
It was deemed a room of cultural treasure by the Soviet government.
In 1941, after Nazi Germany invaded Russia, Catherine Palace's caretakers removed the smaller amber objects from the Amber Room and tried to hide the priceless panels behind wallpaper.
But the German officers knew of the room and confiscated the panels before destroying most of the palace. After the war, the panels were never seen again.
The Baltictech team said: "The wreck lies several dozen kilometres north of Ustka at a depth of 88 meters.
"It is practically intact. In its holds, we discovered military vehicles, porcelain and many crates with so far unknown contents.
"This discovery may provide groundbreaking information on the disappearance of the legendary Amber Room, because it was in Königsberg that it was last seen.
"From there, the steamer Karlsruhe set out on its last voyage with a large cargo."
Although the team used electronic equipment to survey the wreckage further, they couldn't establish what is contained in the chests.
"We're going back to the Karlsruhe wreck in spring 2021," the dive crew added.
The military vehicles, china and sealed chests in the ship’s hold are all said to be in good condition.
The divers said they accessed Allied, German and Soviet documents detailing the fate of the steamer and spent more than a year looking for it.
They believed it was among the “most interesting, yet uncovered, stories from the Baltic Sea bed".
SS Karlsruhe was built at the G. Seebeck Bremerhaven shipyard, Germany, in 1905.
Toward the end of World War II, it was included in the Hannibal Operation that evacuated Germans and Nazi troops from the East Prussia’s Koenigsberg area as the Soviet Red Army advanced and was taking control of it.
On April 11, 1945, the steamer left the port of Pillau - which is now the Russian port of Baltiysk.
It was carrying 150 troops of the Hermann Goering regiment, 25 railway workers and 888 civilians, including children, and hundreds of tonnes of cargo.
The next day, it was included in a convoy going to the German port of Swinemunde, which is now Swinoujscie in Poland.
On the morning of April 13, 1945, the ship was spotted by Soviet planes, bombed and sank within about three minutes.
Despite dozens of Indiana Jones-style searches for the Amber Room treasure across Eastern Europe, its exact location has remained a mystery.
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In 2017, the Sun Online reported how a trio of treasure hunter claimed they had tracked down the haul to a cave in the Hartenstein hills near Dresden.
Another report claimed the treasure may have been hidden in secret a secret bunker near the Polish town of Wegorzewo.
What is the Amber Room?
The priceless treasure mysteriously disappeared.
Russia's Amber Room was a dazzling space panelled with tonnes of finely carved amber, gold, and jewels.
The room was presented as a gift to Peter the Great by Prussia in 1716 and dubbed by some an 'eighth wonder of the world'.
Baltic amber is fossilised resin from Pinus succinifera.
This tree grew in abundance throughout Scandinavia and northern Europe more than 20 million years ago.
The Amber Room dates back to 1701 when German baroque sculptor Andreas Schlüter began work on it.
When it was fully completed in 1770, the room covered more than 590 square feet and was adorned with over six tonnes of amber.
Estimates have placed its modern-day worth somewhere between £120-£250 million.
