ARCHITECTURE OF ICE

ARCHITECTURE OF ICE

Quebec’s Glace Hotel

Each year outside of Quebec City, the gorgeous Hotel De Glace is open to the public during the coldest winter months, beginning in January. Made almost entirely from snow and ice, the hotel changes design and shape each year, with a winner chosen from an annual design contest. Visitors can sleep in artistically designed ice rooms, enjoy cocktails in the ice bar or even get married in the ice chapel, before the complex melts come spring time.

Harbin International Ice and Snow Sculpture Festival, China 

For nearly 30 years, hundreds of thousands of people have flocked to the Harbin International Ice and Snow Sculpture Festival in northeast China to witness dazzling works of man-made ice architecture. Chunks of ice are brought in from the frozen Songhua River and molded by talented sculptors into jaw-dropping life-sized creations, which are placed throughout the city.

Russia’s Ice Palce

The ice palace in St. Petersburg, Russia, first appeared in 1740 as a commission by Empress Anna Ivanovna to celebrate victory in the Turkish war. In 2005, historians worked to recreate the structure with a team of 14 ice masters led by famous ice-sculptor Valerij Gromov. The palace is reconstructed every year, and its interior is also furnished with furniture made of ice, including an ice bed with ice mattress and pillows.

Personal Rating:

I think it is very unusual to create a place to live and that people can come to admire how beautiful it is inside an ice house, or an ice palace. I would like this also be done here, but unfortunately can not be because there is no snow or ice.