Wedding in Jukkasjaervi Ice Hotel

An ice hotel is a temporary hotel made up entirely of snow and sculpted blocks of ice. They are promoted by their sponsors and have special features for travelers who are interested in novelties and unusual environments, and thus are in the class of destination hotels. Their lobbies are often filled with ice sculptures, and food and beverages are specially chosen for the circumstances.

All of the ice hotels are reconstructed every year, and are dependent upon constant sub-zero temperatures during construction and operation. The walls, fixtures, and fittings are made entirely of ice, and are held together using a substance known as snice, which takes the place of mortar in a traditional brick-built hotel.

The Icehotel in the village of Jukkasjärvi, about 17 km from Kiruna, Sweden was the world's first ice hotel. In 1989, Japanese ice artists visited the area and created an exhibition of ice art. In Spring 1990, French artist Jannot Derid held an exhibition in a cylinder-shaped igloo in the area. One night there were no rooms available in the town, so some of the visitors asked for permission to spend the night in the exhibition hall. They slept in sleeping bags on top of reindeer skin - the first guests of the "hotel".

The entire hotel is made out of snow and ice blocks taken from the Torne River - even the glasses in the bar are made of ice. Each spring, around March, Icehotel harvests tons of ice from the frozen Torne River and stores it in a nearby production hall with room for over 5 000 tons of ice. The ice is used for creating Icebar designs and ice glasses, for ice sculpting classes, events and product launches all over the world. About 1 000 tons of what is left, is used in the construction of the next Icehotel.

When the temperature drops and the snow guns start humming on the Torne River shore, usually in mid-November, the building process begins. The snow is sprayed on huge inverted catenary shaped steel forms and allowed to freeze. After a couple of days, the forms are removed, leaving a maze of free-standing corridors of snow. In the corridors, dividing walls are built in order to create rooms and suites. Ice blocks are now being transported into the hotel where selected artists start creating the art and design of the perishable material. Icehotel in Jukkasjärvi opens in phases, the first phase opens in the beginning of December and for each week, another part of the hotel opens up for visitors and guests until the beginning of January when the entire construction is completed.

When completed, the hotel features a bar, church, main hall, reception area and rooms and suites for over 100 guests to sit and sleep on blocks of sculpted ice in the form of chairs and beds. There is also warm accommodation available next to the hotel. The Icehotel in Jukkasjärvi is known to be the biggest hotel of ice and snow in the world, spanning over some 6 000 m2. Each suite is unique and the architecture of the hotel is changed each year, as it is rebuilt from scratch. Each year artists submit their ideas for suites and a jury selects about 50 artists to create the church, Absolut Icebar, reception, main hall and suites. When spring comes, everything melts away and returns to the Torne River. The Icehotel only exists between December and April, and has been listed as one of the Seven Wonders of Sweden.

Customers visit one of the bedrooms in Jukkasjaervi Ice Hotel in Sweden, the world's first ice hotel, on Jan. 8, 2009. An ice hotel is a temporary hotel made up entirely of snow and sculpted blocks of ice. The Jukkasjaervi Ice Hotel has 91 rooms this year and is rebuilt every winter.



A Swedish couple pose in the chapel of the ice hotel in Jukkasjarvi on January 9, 2009 after getting married. Around 150 marriages happen at the chapel each winter. The chapel and ice hotel are temporary buildings since the structure of the chapel and of the ice hotel melts away in spring.



A Swedish couple pose for pictures after being married at the chapel of the ice hotel in Jukkasjarvi on Jan. 9, 2009.



A bride and her mother enter the chapel of the ice hotel in Jukkasjarvi on Jan. 9, 2009 to get married.



Visitors stand in the hallway of Jukkasjaervi Ice Hotel on Jan. 8, 2009.



A customer sleeps in one of the bedrooms in Jukkasjaervi Ice Hotel on Jan. 8, 2009.



A bride poses for a photographer at the chapel of the ice hotel in Jukkasjarvi on Jan. 9, 2009 after getting married.

Source: Wikipedia