The Swedes Presented St. Petersburg With "An Ice Palace"

60 tons of ice were delivered to the Petropavlovskaya fortress in St. Petersburg for the construction of an ice palace, which will be presented by the Swedish province of Norbotten to St. Petersburg for the celebration of the 300th anniversary of this former capital of the Russian Empire.

According to sources from the Fund of the city's Historical Museum, the ice has been delivered from Sweden where this fragile "construction material" is industrially extracted from one of the ecologically clean rivers.

The sources also claimed that the ice used by artists to create a variety of masterpieces during St. Petersburg's festivals of ice sculptures is extracted from Suzdal lakes and in terms of beauty is equal to the ice brought from Sweden. However, Russian ice is not as clean ecologically, and, taking into consideration the fact that everything in the palace, including glasses for various drinks, will be made from ice, Swedish masters decided to use "their own" materials.

The construction of the palace will start on Saturday, January 25. The masters from Sweden will install a tent, made from a special fabric, on the beach of the Petropavlovskaya fortress and fill it with helium. Then, they'll put inside several refrigerators, which will keep a constant temperature of 5 degrees Centigrade below zero in order to protect the palace from the tricks of capricious climate in St. Petersburg. Consequently, the workers install ice blocks, each weighing 1.5 tons, around the perimeter of the interior of the tent.

The palace with the height of 9 meters and overall area of 600 square meters is expected to be finished on Wednesday, January 29 before the opening of the Festival of Ice Sculptures. All sculptures will be placed inside the palace and become a part of its interior. The palace is scheduled to be opened for visitors starting February 1.