LATVIA: Participants of the international ice sculptures festival in Latvia race against thaw to present their works to jury before they melt

Record ID: 860339

  • Title: LATVIA: Participants of the international ice sculptures festival in Latvia race against thaw to present their works to jury before they melt
  • Date: 11th February 2013
  • Summary: (SOUNDBITE) (Latvian) FESTIVAL VISITOR LIENA DEICMANE SAYING: "I liked everything very, very much! In previous years it was amazing, but this year it is even more beautiful."
  • Embargoed: 26th February 2013 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Latvia
  • City:
  • Country: Latvia
  • Topics: Arts,Quirky
  • Reuters ID: LVA3ZE8ZW2I98DPQU99UR16E52X5
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  • Story Text: Participants of this year's ice sculptures festival in the Latvian town of Jelgava had to race against thaw to complete their works before they melted.
    30 artists from Bulgaria, France, Germany, Great Britain, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Russia and Ukraine had only two days with sub zero temperatures to turn 60 tonnes of ice into pieces of art.

    "Sometimes ice creaks, sometimes it cracks, but sometimes because of the weather - it cries, it says "That's it, I won't be beautiful in this weather. I'll cry. So, this time ice cried for three days, only in the last day the temperature was such that it (the ice) obeyed us. Ice listens to us and it hears us and we hear it, and I think that the festival tomorrow will be great," said Elena Erkovich, an ice sculptor from the Russian city of Perm.
    The theme of this year's festival was "The Planet of Ice", though the place where the artists were working looked more like the planet of water.
    Two cold nights allowed the festival participants to complete their work, but then the temperature rose again and sculptures started to melt fast. But weather couldn't spoil the mood of visitors.

    "I liked everything very, very much! In previous years it was amazing, but this year it is even more beautiful," said Liena Deicmane.
    The winner of this year's festival was a Russian team with sculpture "A Girl on the Moon."
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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