"Welcome to the original Icehotel"
Have you watched Disney's Frozen and felt a little jealous about Elsa's ice-castle? Then we don't know how you will handle the news about an actual hotel built from ice! The Icehotel in Sweden's Jukkasjärvi village is considered one of its seven wonders. And why not, since this hotel is the world's first ice hotel (yes, made from real ice and snow!), and has to be rebuilt every year, from scratch!
The Icehotel, as it is called, is just 200 km north from the Arctic Circle, and it first opened in 1990. There is a very interesting true story behind this hotel. A French artist, JannotDerid, used a cylinder shaped igloo for his exhibition in 1990. It so happened that one night the visitors had nowhere to stay, and after taking permission, were allowed to use the igloo! Well, and they were the first unofficial guests! And now we have a hotel which is there from December to April, with about 100 rooms for guests, bar, church, main hall, and its own ice restaurants among others! The ice chapel is a huge rage among the couples wanting to get married inside the snowy structure.
The snow and ice blocks, which are then used to construct the chairs, beds and other furniture, are collected from the nearby Torne River. The production hall, where the ice is 'harvested', can contain upto 900 t (short tons) of ice and 27,000 t of snow! Another remarkable feature of the Icehotel, which covers around 6000 sq metres, is its rooms. No one room is the same, as artists submit their ideas, and a jury selects about 50 of them to design the rooms accordingly. If you are wondering about the temperature, then it's below freezing point, around -5°C! No wonder the guests are given reindeer-fur beddings, polar-tested sleeping bags, a hot-tub outdoors, and a view of the magnificent Aurora Borealis (which is visible during the winter)!
In spring, the Icehotel melts, as it returns to the Torne, only to be rebuilt during the winter. "Do you wanna build a snowman?"- you can always build one by the side of the Icehotel, as you are always 'welcomed to the original Icehotel', as its official website puts it!
Post Written by - Lopamudra
Post Written by - Lopamudra
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