Russia’s amber gem
QUESTION What became of Russia’s fabled
Amber Room?
The spectacular Amber Room was installed in 1701 at Charlottenburg Palace, home of Friedrich I, the first King of Prussia. The amber panels were designed by German baroque sculptor Andreas Schluter and built by the Danish craftsman Gottfried Wolfram.
In 1716, Frederick William I of Prussia presented the Amber Room as a gift to the Russian Tsar, Peter the Great, to cement a Prussian- Russian alliance against Sweden.
It was shipped to Russia in 18 crates and installed in the Winter Palace in St Petersburg. In 1755, Peter’s daughter Czarina elizabeth ordered the panels to be moved to Catherine Palace of Tsarskoye Selo (the Tsar’s Playground).
She commissioned the Italian-born Russian architect Bartolomeo Francesco Rastrelli to redesign the amber panels to fit the larger space.
The Amber Room became elizabeth’s meditation space, the third of the Palace’s great chambers along the Golden Corridor. It was enlarged again by Catherine the Great, who used it as a meeting room for her inner circle.
By the 1780s, historians estimate it contained 600sq ft of amber and was worth £75 million — £13 billion today.
In 1941, when the Nazis invaded Russia, the curators of the Catherine Palace attempted to disassemble the Amber Room. Some parts were removed while others were hidden behind wallpaper.
however, the Germans had been given specific orders by the leading Nazi Alfred ernst Rosenberg to loot the room, which they considered to be German.
In 36 hours, the room had been stripped, with the amber packed into 27 crates and shipped to Konigsberg (present day Kaliningrad) on the Baltic Coast. It was reinstalled in the town’s castle museum.
In late 1943, the museum’s director, Alfred Rohde, was advised to dismantle the Amber Room for safe-keeping. In August 1944, Allied bombing raids destroyed the city and razed the castle.
The Amber Room is lost, probably destroyed, though there are rumours it
was reassembled at a secret location or hidden in a chamber.
In 1979, the Soviet Union began to construct a replica Amber Room at Tsarskoye Selo. It took 25 years to complete and was opened by Vladimir Putin and German Chancellor Gerhard Schroder in 2003 to mark the 300th anniversary of the city of St Petersburg.
R. E. Marks, London SW15.
QUESTION Why do we ‘wage’ war?
The word wage entered the english language in 1300. It is derived from the Old French word gage, which signified a pledge or pawn given as security for the performance of what was termed an engagement.
To engage is to make a covenant, of which the gage was the surety.
Gage later became a challenge to combat. In this sense, it was a pledge, such as a glove or gauntlet, which the accuser, or challenger, threw on the ground. Picking it up showed you accepted the challenge.
These pledges were held by the seconds, or friends of the parties, and the loser in the bout was bound to pay the agreed penalty. In the 15th century, the english word wage became a verb, as in to wage war. The wage was the reward for which the parties fought.
A wager is a pledge to be paid by the loser when two people bet on the chance of a future event happening. To lay a wager is to engage to pay or to deposit such a bet. From this origin, it is clear why not only an ordinary contract or promise is termed an engagement, but so is a battle.
Jake E. Lister, Wilmslow, Cheshire.
QUESTION What was the origin of the popular World War I song, Hinky Dinky Parlay Voo?
hINKy Dinky Parlay Voo is the popular name for a World War I song known as Mademoiselle From Armentieres.
It was the most well-travelled novelty song of the war, with innumerable versions sung by millions of soldiers from Britain, Australia, Canada, New Zealand and eventually the U.S. Armentieres was a French village on the Somme River, close to the front line. While billeted there, Allied troops could enjoy rest, recreation, alcohol and perhaps visit a brothel. Many of the verses were bawdy: ‘Oh, Mademoiselle from Armentieres.
Parlez-vous She’ll do it for wine, she’ll do it for rum And sometimes for chocolate or
chewing gum Hinky dinky parlez-vous.’
There was allegedly a real Mademoiselle from Armentieres. In 1965, Time magazine claimed she was ‘a tall, slim widow named Marie Lecoq, who worked as a waitress at the Cafe de la Paix’.
Disputed authors of the song include english soldier edward C. h. Rowland, with the melody by his Canadian friend Lt Gitz Rice. Alternative versions and parodies were written so quickly that the song must be regarded as belonging to the folk tradition.
An early version recorded in 1915 to the same tune was known as Skiboo: ‘Two German officers crossed the Rhine
Skiboo, skiboo. Two German officers crossed the Rhine.
Skiboo, skiboo. These German officers crossed the Rhine To love the women and taste the wine. Skiboo, skiboo, skiboodley boo, skidam,
dam, dam.’
Skiboo (sometimes called Snapoo) songs were sung by the British in India and South Africa from the 1870s.
The melody is equally mysterious. It has been suggested it is a variation of When Johnny Comes Marching home or the now forgotten Mademoiselle De Bar-le-Duc, but this catchy tune could be related to any number of songs.
Ivy Reeves, Cambridge.
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