BELGIUM: Castles, princesses and witches from Brothers Grimm fairy tales are getting a new life, as sand statues

Record ID: 783669

  • Title: BELGIUM: Castles, princesses and witches from Brothers Grimm fairy tales are getting a new life, as sand statues
  • Date: 3rd August 2008
  • Summary: VISITORS PASSING IN FRONT OF CASTLE (SOUNDBITE) (French) KENZA ISMAIILI, VISITOR, SAYING: "The castles. The castles with the cartoon faces"
  • Embargoed: 18th August 2008 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Belgium
  • Country: Belgium
  • Topics: Arts / Culture / Entertainment / Showbiz,Light / Amusing / Unusual / Quirky
  • Reuters ID: LVA1M0KD3NDDDXKUZUI09ZEEMM8V
  • Story Text: It is summertime in Europe, and for many the occasion to chill out on the beach. While adults are generally taking the sun around the Mediterranean sea or the less glamourous Belgium coast, children are busy building up sand castles.
    But every year, some adults build sand castles too. And their castles are much bigger.
    In Blankenberge, a seaside resort located 90 minutes drive from the Belgium capital Brussels, sixty international sand artists were given twenty tons of sand to play with. They designed castles and figures inspired from the fairy tales of the Brothers Grimm.
    Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, two German academics, are best known for their collections of folk tales that have enchanted the imagination of generations of children.
    'Rapunzel' tells the story of a girl trapped in a tower whose long golden hair is the only way for anyone to climb up to her. Every nights, a witch told her 'Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your hair, so that I may climb the golden stair.' One day, a prince heard Rapunzel's songs... and they lived happy ever after.
    The sixty artists had five weeks to sculpt their work. Since it is finished, five artists are still on site to fix at night the possible damages the sculptures could get from bad weather or insensitive tourists.
    Each artists has its own way of carving, Aleksander Deman, the exhibition organizer, said.
    ''Americans for example, we have some American, Canadian artists here, Australians, and they have all done art academy and they arrive with the big tool, big box of tools, but the Russians, for example, they just take a knife or something in the restaurant and they start working with a knife ! And they work for all the time and they make splendid statues on that result. It's a big difference. Each carver has its own discipline,'' Deman said.
    Though the exhibition is near by the beach, the sand used to build these sculptures had to be specially brought by 600 trucks through 150 kilometres to its final destination. Beach sand could not be used because of the smallness and the roundness the sea waves gave to it, making it unusable for carving. The sand used for the sculptures came from a sandpit in the centre of Belgium and has a rectangular shape.
    The sand was stocked for weeks in big wooden sand boxes. Water was added so that when the boxes were removed, the sand kept its cubic shape and was ready for carving.
    Visitors of all age enjoyed the exhibition, most of them mixing their visit to the exhibition with a day at the beach.
    ''I think it's fabulous they did that with sand. And I know artists came from everywhere in the world so it's a unique occasion. And you can mix that with a day at the beach. The weather is beautiful. It's great ! I like to come and see that every year,'' Lieve Desie said.
    For many, the castles were the highlights of the show. And younger people liked to recognize faces they may have seen in animated movies.

    "The castles. The castles with the cartoon faces," Kenza Ismaiili, a younger visitor, said.
    The exhibition continued inside, under a big tent. 128 Sculptures of fairy tales character seems to come to life given to the light effects inside the tent. Music and voices are also played for a fantastic atmosphere.
    The Brothers Grimm never went out of fashion. While Disney has announced the release of an animated movie about Rapunzel in 2010. And in 2005, British film maker Terry Gilliam told the story of the two brothers in a film casting Matt Damon and Heath Ledger.
    No doubt that Grimm's princes and princesses will continue to be the stars of many children's dreams at night.
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