Discover the world of ice sculptures: a festival in Harbin
The Harbin Ice Festival is one of the most impressive events of the winter. Hundreds of ice sculptures, various art installations, and light shows make this event a fascinating experience.
The first Harbin Ice Festival was held in 1963. It started as a simple exhibition of ice sculptures, but eventually turned into a large-scale festival, AirAsia writes.
Since then, the ice sculpture festival has become one of the most important in the region. But for some, it is still surprising that there are cities in Asia that have the conditions necessary for ice sculptures. This is the case with the city of Harbin in northeastern China.
From January to March, hundreds of thousands of people come to see some of the world's giant ice sculptures. With temperatures in Harbin reaching as low as minus 25 degrees Celsius, it's the perfect place to host an ice and snow festival.
This exhibition features about 2,000 ice masterpieces that have been sculpted from ice obtained from the surface of the Sungari River. Thousands of workers cut and transport the majestic ice to different locations of the festival, where sculptors create their masterpieces.
The festival lasts for almost two months - as long as the temperature allows. All the masterpieces are illuminated with LED lights, and some of them come to life thanks to this illumination on dark winter evenings.
The festival covers an area of about 750,000 square meters. There are also ice slides, an arena area for entertainment and buildings made of ice.
More than 300,000 cubic meters of ice and snow are used to build this town. An interesting addition is the Ferris wheel, from a height of 120 meters, where you can see the entire theme park.
Another interesting object is the International Snow Sculpture Exhibition on San Island. It uses 3D sculptures made of compacted snow.
The official opening of the festival in Harbin will take place on January 5.
