琥珀宫之迷琥珀作为世界上最轻的宝石，一直受到不少达官贵人的喜爱。
但你能想象整个房间都是由琥珀和金银宝石建成的吗？在俄罗斯圣彼得堡的叶卡捷琳娜宫就收藏着这么一个金碧辉煌的房间―有“世界第八大奇迹”之称的琥珀宫。
然而，我们现在看到的琥珀宫已经不是原来的那个……18世纪初，普鲁士国王弗里德里希一世为庆祝自己登基，用当时比黄金还要贵12倍的琥珀建成一座55平方米的宫殿。
殿内还镶嵌有钻石、黄金和银箔，总重量超过6吨。
1716年，为与俄国结盟，弗里德里希的儿子把琥珀宫作为礼物赠送给彼得大帝，安置在圣彼得堡。
二战期间，纳粹德国入侵苏联。
琥珀宫被德军拆卸，运回德国。
三年后，苏军反攻德国，琥珀宫从此下落不明。
历经几个世纪的变迁，原来的琥珀宫已经不知所终。
多年来，不时出现有关琥珀宫的消息。
去年年底，又有消息称失踪多年的琥珀宫可能藏身在德国靠近捷克边界的小镇。
这些消息可靠吗？我们一起听听各方专家的意见。
In the chaos[混乱] of World War II, a systematic plunder[掠夺] of cultural treasures was under way on orders from Adolf Hitler himself. The Nazi leader had a plan to build the greatest museum on earth in his hometown of Linz, Austria, and fill it with the finest treasures ever fashioned by human hands.Diane Apostolos-Cappadona (Cultural Historian, Georgetown University, USA): And these works were going to, somehow, say, not only that Adolf Hitler had a cultural consciousness[意识], but that this master race was now going to have the great history of the world behind it and was going to surpass[胜过] it.The Führer[（德语）元首] had a wish list of masterpieces carefully catalogued in binders[活页夹] such as this one注1 , which was donated recently to the National Archives. Estimates[估计] of Nazi plunder run from hundreds of thousands to millions of individual objects, many of which have simply disappeared.Apostolos-Cappadona: Like manuscripts[手稿] and printed books, like Gutenberg Bibles 注2.And among the looted[劫掠] art works that have never resurfaced[重新露面], there’s a room so extraordinary that it’s be en called the “Eighth Wonder of the World. ”Apostolos-Cappadona: The Amber Room is one of the great treasures of Russian…culture, Russian history and Russian heritage[遗产，传统]. I’ve seen anywhere from 140 to 500 million dollars being placed on the value of the original Amber Room.The room consisted of many intricately[错综复杂的] carved mosaic panels[嵌板] made of amber, known for its luminescence[发光]. The panels took eight years to make, and in 1709 they were installed in the palace of Prussian King Friedrich Wilhelm I in Germany. Y ears later, Friederick’s son gave the panels to Russian Tsar, Peter the Great, to cement[巩固] an alliance[联盟].Ultimately the panels were moved to St. Petersburg’s Catherine Palace, where they remained until January, 1941.Apostolos-Cappadona: The thriller begins, you know, the sort of saga[长篇故事] of the Amber Room becomes important. The Nazis in June 1941 invade Russia, and the Russians tried to move their greatest treasures to places of safety so they cannot be plundered, looted or destroyed.So, the solution was to wallpaper it over as if you were hiding it. Unfortunately, or fortunately perhaps, the Nazis were not…were not that stupid. So who knows if, when pulling off that wallpaper, severe damage was not done to the amber?The Nazis carted off the room and brought it back to Königsberg. But, as the tides of war turned against Germany, Königsberg fell under siege[围攻] and the Amber Room disappeared.Apostolos-Cappadona: Now, we know that a train left, laden[装满的] with crates[板条箱], in 1945, in March. There is this theory that the Amber Room was taken apart, disassembled[分解], and at least parts of it, if not all of it, was on that train.Richard Ellis (Art Theft Consultant): Nobody can be quite certain as to whether it was destroyed by Allied bombing, whether it’s, you know, fallen further down a mine than it perhaps should have done, but the long and the short of it[总而言之] is, very little of the original Amber Room has surfaced.To this day, the original room’s whereabouts remain a mystery. But some tantalizing[使着急] evidence of its existence has arisen over the years, such as a mosaic from the original that was offered for sale in 1997.Peter Schultheiss (Potsdam Police Chief): The mosaic was part of the Amber Room until 1941. In 1941, German soldiers transferred the picture to Koenigsburg. On the way, a German soldier stole the mosaic. We have to prove that. The fact is that the mosaic went in another direction to the Amber Room, and the recovering of this mosaic gives us no clue where the Amber Room is.In 1979, the Soviet Government commissioned[委托制作] a reconstruction of the Amber Room. Using only black and white photographs for reference[参考], the newly created Amber Room was completed in 2003, just in time for the 300th anniversary[周年纪念] celebration of St. Petersburg.Will the Amber Room ever be found? From an academic standpoint, the evidence seems grim[严酷的].Apostolos-Cappadona: If I had to give a calculated answer, based on the readings I’ve done and the analysis I’ve done of amber and other things, I would tell you I don’t think the Amber Room continues to exist.From a retired detective turned art theft consultant, an equally dismal[阴沉的] view.Ellis: I suspect that something like the Amber Room is...is probably lost. Whether it was destroyed by the Allied bombing, whether it was destroyed accidentally, I don’t know, but I suspect it’s lost.But from a former smuggler[走私者], a ray of hope.Michel V an Rijn (Art Theft Consultant): Somehow it always survives, so I believe that the Amber Room will surface one day. So I don’t think it’s lost. I think artoutlives[比……耐久] us all.第二次世界大战混战之际，一场搜刮文化宝藏的浩劫正在有条不紊地进行，其主导者正是阿道夫・希特勒。
