"To get around this problem, the amber workshop turned to a bag of tiles that had fallen off
the panels before the war and, mostly by chance, been preserved. Each of these tiles was photographed
in black-and-white, and the results were used to construct a reverse color scale for interpreting the
original photographs. What were described as 'heated discussions' over the color scale lasted more than nine
years, and, in expert circles, the question of whether it has been applied properly is still being debated.
Alexander Shedrinsky, a chemist from St. Petersburg who now lives in New York and teaches at Long Island
University, told me that, in his opinion, many of the tiles has been dyed too red: 'It's disturbing for every
person of a certain level of aesthetic understanding.' Alexander Zhuravlev, the project's former director,
said, 'It's a pity that the coloring of the panels in the Amber Room was conducted Unsystematically.'" Forever Amber: A room that haunts two countries, Elizabeth Kolbert, The New Yorker, April 14, 2003 |
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