Stalin-era amber chandelier found in storage at Kaliningrad Amber Factory

Restoration required more than 13 lbs of ornamental stone and five months of work. Source: Press photo

A 50-lb amber chandelier from the Stalin era discovered in the storerooms of the Kaliningrad Amber Factory has been unveiled to the public following extensive restoration work.

The chandelier was made by a group of artists who worked for the factory in the early 1950s. The staff of the combine believes it was part of a large set of furniture commissioned for the office of one of the Soviet leaders.

View the gallery: In Western Russia, amber is the new gold

However, Zoya Kostyashova, the Kaliningrad Amber Museum’s leading researcher, doubts the existence of such an order.

"I have never come across the documents for such an order,” said Kostyashova. “At that time there was nothing really being created in design, copying was typical. And this chandelier is very similar to those that hung in the column hall of the House of the Unions in Moscow.

“Besides, amber is very fragile and demands special care. Perhaps it was made as spectacular gift for foreign guests. Like, for example, the amber model of the Lenin nuclear icebreaker for U.S. President Eisenhower, an original copy of which is kept in our museum.”

The chandelier was discovered during a recent overhaul of the factory’s storerooms.

Restoration required more than 13 lbs of ornamental stone and five months of work.

Based on material published by Rossiyskaya Gazeta.

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