Ice-sculpture festival in Zwolle

Early January I went to the Ijsbeeldenfestival. That translates to: Ice-sculpture festival. At the festival you walk through a hall with a temperature of -10º celsius, while looking at ice sculptures displayed on both sides. Making it a one way corridor. Each year has a different theme, and this year it was myths. Mostly Greek and Roman, but also other popular ones. The sculptures are made by different artists, and it’s really cool to see the different styles.

I’m currently reading the Percy Jackson series. In those books the writer combines exiting adventures with Ancient Greek and Roman myths, gods and mythical creatures. I recognized a lot and that made it really fun!

The sculptures are bigger than lifesize, but pretty proportionate to each other. So the “worlds” flowed into one another. Most of them are “realistic”, but the decorations vary a lot. Some have an ice wall behind them with frosty engravings, while others have a lamp behind them that makes them shine in majestic colors.

It’s hard to pick a favorite sculpture, but it was definitely one of the Greek ones. I liked the sculptures of Poseidon, The Minotaur, Icarus and The Sphinx. (Though?) I think the Sphinx was most majestic, it towered over me and I almost felt like it was going to ask me a riddle.

I really like Greek mythology, so I would have liked more more of those statues. But the balance was good, so there was definitely something for everyone.

I learned some new things because each sculpture had a sign with a description. All in all I had a great family trip!