What is the history of the art of ice sculpture as Yekaterinburg, Russia, hosts an ice sculpture festival?

The 15th Star of Bethlehem Ice Sculpture Festival is held at Scarlet Church on January 6, 2021 local time in Yekaterinburg, Russia.

The art of ice sculpture is an art form that uses ice as the main material for carving and has a very long history. In ancient times, in the northeastern region of China, because of the cold weather, often icy and snowy, the ancients will use the snow and ice to carry out some construction, such as igloo snow house and so on. With the development of ice sculpture art, more and more scholars began to study the origin of ice sculpture. Some historians point out that the construction of ice palaces all over the world can be traced back to more than 250 years ago. 1739, Russia in St. Petersburg on the banks of the Neva River with ice to build the majestic Palladian Palace. And at the first Winter Carnival in Montreal, Canada in 1883, carvers carved a 75-square-meter castle out of 227 kilograms of ice. It can be seen that both at home and abroad, the history of ice carving is very long.

In the early days, people mostly used ice to build practical things, such as igloos, which had a high use value. The more famous igloo of the Eskimos was completely their daily life residence. Later, people also began to pay attention to the artistic value of ice sculpture. Ice was utilized to carve a wide variety of characters, animals, and scenes of life as a way to convey beauty. Because the ice is frozen by the water, the texture is moist, crystal clear, itself like jade, very charming, plus skilled craftsmen's carving, it becomes more artistic. Later people also added various colors of light in the ice sculpture, the clever combination of the two, deeper ice sculpture works of art visual impact, making the ice sculpture more beautiful.

Nowadays, ice sculpture has become a favorite art form, every winter there are many places to hold ice sculpture art festival and other related activities. In China, the more famous is the series of activities of Harbin Ice Sculpture Festival, which attracts a large number of tourists to visit every year, and has become an important local tourism resources.