When: February 8, 2006

What: The Sleeping Quarters of the St. Petersburg Ice Palace

A replica of the original Ice Palace from 1740 was mounted on Dvortzovaja Ploschtjad near the Hermitage Palace by a team of 14 ice-art masters who used more than three tons of ice blocks from nearby lakes. The project was led by the famous ice-sculptor from St. Petersburg, Valerij Gromov.

The structure is six meters high and covers a total area of some 100 sq m, consisting of the main house, with three rooms decorated with ice sculptures and ice furniture, the bath, two elephant sculptures, six small canons, and many smaller sculptures surrounding the palace.

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The original ice palace was built to mark the 10th anniversary of Empress Anna Ioannovna’s reign and Russia’s victory in the Turkish War. The replica was built according to the original descriptions of Prof. G.Kraft from the St.Petersburg Academy of Science, which worked on the original project in 1740. In 18th century Russia, ice artists systematically worked with design plans and drawings for ice sculptures and buildings.

Construction of the current palace began on January 18th and the opening ceremony, which was accompanied by fireworks and a fashion show, attracted about 300 people despite the freezing temperature.

How: Gancarson reports photographers were only given half an hour to take their photos before it was to open to the public, and in temperatures of –17 degrees Celsius. “When I took off my gloves during the shoot I was completely frozen after half an hour and afraid to lose control over my camera. My fully loaded battery was at its end,”he says. “I used 400 ASA, f/5.6, 0,3 sec and the tripod. It was a big difference to now use EOS 350 compared to our former CP 990 (which went last summer). I had much fun with these panoramas I promise!”

Visit Gancarson’s website for more panoramas of the ice palace.
Email Jacek Gancarson: jacek[at]eu3d.com