ECCENTRIC DISCOVERIES: Sleeping in Ice

Might this belong to your most eccentric fantasies - to spend a couple of days like an ice princess in a crystal clear chateau? Wrapped in furry blankets to keep you warm, listening to some ethereal music coming from nowhere, lights which seem to glow from within that crystal clear substance you call ice? A magical scenery that carries you into another sphere...

Quite a while ago I found this about an amazing hotel in Sweden, the ICEHOTEL, near the Torne river.

"The company Jukkas (now ICEHOTEL) has been a tourist operator in the region since the 1970s. For many years the company focus was on the summer season and the magnificent outdoor experiences offered by the land of the midnight sun. During the dark winter the river was frozen and the people of the small village of Jukkasjärvi went into hibernation. Read more"

What attracted me most on their website, was the incredible art that was carved from the ice and the interiors that were created in and from ice, each room by different artists and each year this had to be done anew. In 2009 you could find these rooms among others:

main hall

where you sleep under stars

the Mush room - a psychedelic experience

Recaptured - where fragmented fractures of frozen memories are recycled

the Queen's room

the Art room

From the years before I specifically loved the following rooms and other sceneries. I truly recommend scrolling through all the images of ICEHOTEL. It's magic!

the Taonga room - with Maori symbols

the Russian art nouveau room

the Recurrence room - from Japanese artists

the Dreams room - what could be a more magical environment...

the Cupola room - sleeping under a the cupola of heaven

a dreamy landscape - relegated into a different era or planet?

(all images with permission from ICEHOTEL, photographed by Big Ben Productions)

And in case you would like to be part of next season's designs - ICEHOTEL is calling for artists:

"We hereby invite artists from around the world to send us your ICEHOTEL suite design for 2009/2010. We need your proposal no later than July 15th 2009."
for Application form click here .

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My own fantasies about iceworlds have been created on silk, a scroll that depicts the fantastic colour hues of the artic landscapes. More under this link.

"Iceworld"
79" x 25", silk scroll
©Petra Voegtle