The Ice Hotel of Sweden
In a remote region of Northern Sweden in the tiny village of Jukkasjärvi. Although it does sound quite Finnish, the village was originally founded by native Sami people long ago. Hundreds of years later it was given a new name when Finnish settlers began to move here. This was normal at the time, many ethnic enclaves exist in Nordic countries consisting of foreign Nordic ethnic groups.
But the ethnic make-up of Jukkasjärvi isn’t what makes it interesting. It is, after all, still a tiny and unremarkable place. It’s interesting because within this small village is a hotel made entirely of ice. Being 200km into the arctic circle, a lot can be created with ice. They literally have an ice hotel that guests can stay in. Being made of ice… it melts every year, when the summer comes. And so when winter comes, it always has to be rebuilt. For 24 years it has been this year.
To keep things interesting, they change the design each time they rebuild it. Annually, hundreds of artists submit designs for parts of the interior. Construction in total comes at the cost of over 100 thousand blocks of ice. What’s more, the blocks vary in size, with some weighing over a ton. Clearly a lot of effort goes into the construction of the Ice hotel each year. But it’s worth it, giving rise to one of the most magical seeming places on Earth. The ice hotel looks like something from a fairy tale, causing some people to get married there. Wedding services take place within the ice church, an entire chapel also made of ice. Along with that there’s a famous ice bar – where drinks are served in glasses made from ice.
Origin of the Ice Hotel
In 1989 Jukkasjärvi held an event that saw several ice sculptures erected. One of them was a large igloo. The event attracted many visitors to Jukkasjärvi. But as it was a small village, few hotel rooms were available. Literally out in the cold, one visitor slept the night in the igloo. The story of this somehow inspired someone to build an entire ice hotel for some reason. It was a ridiculous idea and overly ambitious, but worked, giving Sweden the strange icy attraction it now has. Well, that it now has for half of the year.