Annual ice sculpture festival in St. Petersburg.
Every winter in St. Petersburg, the annual ice sculpture festival “Ice Fantasy” takes place. The sculptures are exhibited in a tent, on the beach of the Peter and Paul Fortress, where the temperature is kept low.
Saint Petersburg became the birthplace of the first ice sculpture. In 1740, right in the middle of the ice-covered Neva River, the Ice Palace was erected, at the behest of Empress Anna Ioannovna, famous for her extravagant disposition and love of all kinds of fun, for the weddings of her courtiers. In the palace, built from carved blocks of ice, all furniture and objects, including flowers and playing cards, were made of ice. At the entrance was an ice elephant with an ice driver, ice dolphins shooting fireworks, and ice cannons “shooting” ice balls. There was ice logs in the fireplace in the bedroom. Two sea monsters were located on the sides of the gate. During the day, water from the Neva flowed from their mouths. The ice elephant did the same, from time to time “blow the trumpet” with the help of a trumpeter hidden inside it. Ice statues, vases, trees with birds on their branches. On either side of the Ice House, in the guard room, a man was spinning a paper lantern with “ridiculous figures” painted on their faces. The winter of 1739-1740 was extremely cold. Frosts of 30 degrees lasted until spring, and the Ice House entertained everyone for a long time, only the guards kept order.
. In February 2006, on the Palace Square, an exact copy of the Ice Palace was recreated. The ice complex consisted of a palace, a bathhouse, elephants and other compositions. His rooms were furnished with furniture: tables, chairs, beds, mirrors, plates, everything was made of ice. The palace stood until mid-March.
In 2020, about 60 sculptures were created, which took about 170 tons of ice. The theme of this year’s Festival was animals, there are also heroes of Russian fairy tales and modern cartoons. The best ice craftsmen in Russia and in the world annually take part in the work of the festival exhibition: prize winners and winners of various international competitions that are held in the countries of the world: life-size ice giraffes, deer , leopards , impressive tarantulas, charming St. Petersburg cats, as well as the underwater kingdom and the glass castle of the Little Mermaid, which has become the tallest sculpture of the festival. All this brings out all the colors of the rainbow and creates a magical atmosphere. Little visitors offer to find the symbols of the year and get a prize. In addition, everyone who comes is greeted by costumed heroes led by the Mouse King, and funny huskies are waiting for a photo session.
