PRICELESS AMBER ROOM OF TSARS MAY HAVE BEEN FOUND BY TREASURE HUNTER

THE AMBER ROOM OF THE TSARS, ONE OF THE GREATEST MISSING TREASURES OF WORLD WAR II THAT WAS LOOTED BY THE NAZIS DURING THEIR INVASION OF THE SOVIET UNION, MAY HAVE BEEN FOUND. A RUSSIAN TREASURE HUNTER IS CURRENTLY EXCAVATING IN THE ENCLAVE OF KALININGRAD WHERE HE HAS DISCOVERED A WORLD WAR II AREA BUNKER THAT THE LOCAL GERMAN HIGH COMMAND USED IN THE BATTLE FOR THE CITY IN 1945. IF SERGEI TRIFONOV IS CORRECT THEN HE HAS SOLVED ONE OF THE GREATEST RIDDLES LEFT OVER FROM THE WAR. HE ANTICIPATES THAT HE WILL BREAK INTO THE BUNKER BY THE END OF THE MONTH TO FIND THE TREASURE. CRAFTED ENTIRELY OUT OF AMBER, GOLD AND PRECIOUS STONES, THE ROOM MADE OF NUMEROUS PANELS WAS A STUNNING MASTERPIECE OF BAROQUE ART AND WIDELY REGARDED AS THE WORLD'S MOST IMPORTANT TREASURE. WHEN ITS 565 CANDLES WERE LIT THE AMBER ROOM WAS SAID TO 'GLOW A FIERY GOLD'. IT IS ESTIMATED TO BE WORTH AROUND £150 MILLION, BUT MANY CONSIDER THE WORK PRICELESS. IT WAS PRESENTED TO PETER THE GREAT IN 1716 BY THE KING OF PRUSSIA. LATER, CATHERINE THE GREAT COMMISSIONED A NEW GENERATION OF CRAFTSMEN TO EMBELLISH THE ROOM AND MOVED IT FROM THE WINTER PALACE IN ST PETERSBURG TO HER NEW SUMMER PALACE IN TSARKOYE SELO, OUTSIDE THE CITY. THE ROOM WAS SEIZED BY THE MARAUDING GERMANS DURING THEIR ONSLAUGHT ON RUSSIA IN 1941. PRUSSIAN COUNT SOMMES LAUBACH, THE GERMAN'S ART PROTECTION OFFICER AND HOLDER OF A DEGREE IN ART HISTORY, SUPERVISED THE ROOMS TRANSPORT TO KOENIGSBERG CASTLE IN WHAT WAS THEN EAST PRUSSIA. HISTORIAN TRIFONOV BELIEVES HE HAS SOLVED A DECADES OLD RIDDLE AND THAT THE TREASURE LIES IN A BUNKER 40 FEET DOWN IN THE SOIL OF KOENIGSBERG. 'BELIEVE ME OR NOT, IT'S THERE, 12 METERS SOWN IN THE SUB-SOIL', HE SAID, POINTING TO THE ENTRANCE OF THE BUNKER. TO TEST HIS THEORY, TRIFONOV HAS BEGUN TO PROBE THE SOIL UNDER THE BUNKER USING A GROUND-PENETRATING RADAR AND HAS STARTED TO PUMP OUT WATER. HE HS ALREADY UNEARTHED A BRICK-LINED ROOM. THE BUNKER IS 1,000 YARDS FROM THE SITE OF THE CASTLE THAT WAS DEMOLISHED IN 1967. HE SAYS HE HAS 'INFORMATION' FROM ARCHIVES THAT THIS IS THE REPOSITORY OF THE FABLED ROOM, BUT HE ISN'T SAYING WHERE HIS SOURCES ARE. THE GOVERNOR OF KALININGRAD APPEARS CONVINCED AND HAS PROVIDED FINANCING FOR THE PROJECT, BUT MANY IN THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL COMMUNITY REMAIN SKEPTICAL.