{
    "title": "Icehotel celebrates 30 years - see the first photos of the art",
    "modified_at": "2026-07-06 19:18:51",
    "published_at": "2019-12-16 13:20:00",
    "url": "https://press.icehotel.com/icehotel-celebrates-30-years-see-the-first-photos-of-the-art",
    "short_url": "http://prez.ly/9rKd",
    "culture": "en",
    "language": "EN",
    "slug": "icehotel-celebrates-30-years-see-the-first-photos-of-the-art",
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Why not marry your loved one in the prospering &ldquo;Ginkgo Ceremony Hall&quot; or enjoy an ice-cold cocktail in the playful ice bar &quot;Torneland&quot;.&nbsp;On December 13 the original Icehotel in Swedish Lapland opened the winter hotel and it&#039;s a celebration of magnificent art.</strong><br>\u200b<br>\u200bThirty years ago,&nbsp;Icehotel&nbsp;founder Yngve Bergqvist started a journey that would lead to the world&#039;s first hotel of ice and snow in&nbsp;Jukkasj&auml;rvi&nbsp;in the north of&nbsp;Sweden. Today, the hotel has had over a million visitors from all continents of the world.<br>\u200b&quot;This&nbsp;year Icehotel is celebrating 30 years and the hotel&nbsp;is&nbsp;really&nbsp;something&nbsp;special. We are&nbsp;happy to&nbsp;finally&nbsp;be&nbsp;able&nbsp;to&nbsp;welcome&nbsp;the&nbsp;guests&nbsp;into&nbsp;this glittering world&quot;,&nbsp;says the CEO of&nbsp;Icehotel,&nbsp;Malin&nbsp;Franck.</p><p>See all the&nbsp;artwork and the art descriptions <a href=\"https://www.icehotel.com/firstphotos-icehotel30\">here</a>.<br>\u200b</p><p><strong>Art&nbsp;and design&nbsp;- at&nbsp;one&nbsp;with&nbsp;nature</strong></p><p>33 artists from 16 countries around the world have spent two intense weeks in&nbsp;Jukkasj&auml;rvi,&nbsp;&nbsp;to create the 30th reincarnation of&nbsp;Icehotel&nbsp;- an ephemeral art exhibition made entirely of snow and ice from the Torne River. Together with&nbsp;Icehotel&#039;s&nbsp;building team, ice production, creative support and lighting designers the artists have - apart from the 15 unique art suites - created a ceremony hall for weddings and other celebrations as well as the Main Hall with its iconic columns and chandeliers which has become synonymous with the hotel. In addition, an outdoor installation;&nbsp;a four-meter tall tower&nbsp;and two new ice suites were presented in the year-round part of&nbsp;Icehotel, as well as the ice bar&nbsp;&ldquo;Torneland&rdquo;, an icy amusement park, setting off the imagination.</p><blockquote>&quot;We&nbsp;have&nbsp;planned&nbsp;Icehotel&nbsp;#30&nbsp;since&nbsp;early&nbsp;spring&nbsp;when&nbsp;the&nbsp;Icehotel&nbsp;jury&nbsp;decided&nbsp;which&nbsp;art&nbsp;suites&nbsp;would&nbsp;become&nbsp;reality.&nbsp;Luckily&nbsp;the Arctic&nbsp;weather&nbsp;greeted&nbsp;us&nbsp;with&nbsp;perfect&nbsp;conditions&nbsp;for the&nbsp;construction&nbsp;period.&nbsp;There&nbsp;is&nbsp;something&nbsp;special&nbsp;creating&nbsp;art&nbsp;and design&nbsp;in&nbsp;collaboration&nbsp;with&nbsp;the river, the sky, and the air&quot;,&nbsp;says&nbsp;Luca&nbsp;Roncoroni,&nbsp;Creative&nbsp;Director at&nbsp;Icehotel.</blockquote><p>There is solid work behind the building of a hotel that reappears in a new winter edition every year. In spring,&nbsp;1 300 blocks&nbsp;of ice&nbsp;were harvested from the Torne River and kept cold until it&nbsp;was time for it to be used in order to create this year&#039;s art. It&nbsp;was also used to make glasses, plates and to deliver ice orders in the shape of sculptures, blocks or whole environments for ice events around the world.</p><p>Feeling inspired to submit a suite design? <a href=\"https://www.icehotel.com/call-proposal\">Enter a submission</a> before May 4th, 2020&nbsp;-&nbsp; and&nbsp;you can be chosen to participate in&nbsp;Icehotel&nbsp;#31.</p><p><strong>News &amp; figures -&nbsp;Icehotel&nbsp;#30</strong></p><ul class=\"release-content-list release-content-list--bulleted release-content-list--align-inherit\"><li><span><strong>An observation&nbsp;deck.</strong> To celebrate this year&#039;s anniversary, an observation deck has been built where the guests can have a moment of serenity overlooking the&nbsp;origin&nbsp;of the hotel, Torne River. Here, guests can experience the&nbsp;pastel-hued&nbsp;Kaamos light during the day and be mesmerized by stars and dancing northern lights before it&#039;s time for a good night&#039;s sleep.</span></li><li><span><strong>An&nbsp;outdoor&nbsp;sculpture.</strong> An&nbsp;outdoor&nbsp;sculpture&nbsp;created&nbsp;by Mats Nilsson and Jens&nbsp;Thoms&nbsp;Ivarsson&nbsp;is&nbsp;also&nbsp;as part&nbsp;of&nbsp;this&nbsp;year&#039;s&nbsp;celebration&nbsp;- a&nbsp;four-meter tall&nbsp;tower&nbsp;in&nbsp;which&nbsp;guests&nbsp;can&nbsp;enter. The design&nbsp;encounter&nbsp;&rdquo;Brutal&nbsp;Experience&quot;&nbsp;which&nbsp;is a&nbsp;tribute&nbsp;to Brutalism, starts&nbsp;already&nbsp;outside&nbsp;the&nbsp;main&nbsp;entrance&nbsp;and&nbsp;then&nbsp;continues&nbsp;into&nbsp;the Main Hall&nbsp;of&nbsp;the&nbsp;winter&nbsp;hotel.</span></li><li><span><strong>A magnificent Main Hall.</strong> This year,&nbsp;Icehotel&nbsp;also boasts of an extra grand&nbsp;75-meter-long Main Hall with the Ceremony Hall &quot;Ginkgo&quot; adjacent to it, featuring 30 stars carved in the ceiling - one star for each&nbsp;Icehotel.</span></li><li><span><strong>Life&nbsp;enriching&nbsp;moments.</strong> In addition to&nbsp;world-class&nbsp;art&nbsp;and a&nbsp;night&nbsp;spent&nbsp;amongst&nbsp;art&nbsp;made&nbsp;of&nbsp;ice&nbsp;and&nbsp;snow,&nbsp;guests&nbsp;can&nbsp;also&nbsp;try&nbsp;activities&nbsp;such&nbsp;as a&nbsp;Northern&nbsp;lights&nbsp;Tour on a&nbsp;snowmobile, dog&nbsp;sledding,&nbsp;ice&nbsp;sculpting, the&nbsp;Jukkasj&auml;rvi&nbsp;sauna ritual, and&nbsp;wilderness&nbsp;suppers.</span></li><li><span><strong>Award-winning food with new kitchen brigade.</strong> Experience a remarkable dining experience in&nbsp;Icehote&nbsp;Restaurant, this year led by Food and Beverage Manager Henrik&nbsp;L&ouml;&ouml;v&nbsp;and head chef Samuel Jahn together with a new international kitchen brigade. Along with chef Sebastian Olsson, they create magic on a plate. Sebastian is the chef at the Chef&#039;s table concept where a new twelve-course menu is presented, focusing on natural ingredients using the traditional Swedish flavor characteristics of salt, sweet and smoked.</span></li><li><span><strong>10&nbsp;seconds.</strong> The total&nbsp;amount&nbsp;of&nbsp;ice&nbsp;used&nbsp;in order to&nbsp;create&nbsp;the&nbsp;hotel,&nbsp;equals&nbsp;ten&nbsp;seconds&nbsp;of&nbsp;water&nbsp;flow&nbsp;of&nbsp;the Torne River.</span></li><li><span><strong>1000&nbsp;ice&nbsp;crystals.</strong> The&nbsp;iconic&nbsp;chandeliers&nbsp;contain&nbsp;1,000&nbsp;ice&nbsp;crystals&nbsp;sculpted&nbsp;by hand.</span></li><li><span><strong>110 million ice creams.</strong> The main building material is &quot;snice&quot;, a mix of snow and ice. 30,000 cubic meters - or the equivalent of 110 million ice creams - are used to create the floors, ceilings, and walls of the hotel.</span></li><li><span><strong>There are 55 cold rooms&nbsp;in total</strong> across&nbsp;Icehotel&nbsp;#30 and&nbsp;Icehotel&nbsp;365 (15 Art Suites&nbsp;and 20 Ice Suites in&nbsp;Icehotel&nbsp;#30 and 9 Deluxe Suites and 11 Art Suites in 365). In addition to cold rooms,&nbsp;Icehotel&nbsp;also offers warm accommodation, cabins, and hotel rooms.</span></li></ul><p><strong>An original that always renews itself</strong></p><p>What started out with a random overnight stay in an igloo is today the world&#039;s first ice hotel, making it one of Sweden&#039;s most famous tourist destination with around 70,000 visitors a year. Constantly renewing itself with new art and new innovations, the original&nbsp;Icehotel&nbsp;has many highlights to look back upon. For example:</p><ul class=\"release-content-list release-content-list--bulleted release-content-list--align-inherit\"><li><span><strong>2018</strong>.&nbsp;Icehotel&nbsp;was featured on TIME Magazine&#039;s list&nbsp;&quot; <a href=\"https://www.icehotel.com/icehotel-listed-time-magazines-worlds-greatest-places\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">World&#039;s Greatest Places 2018</a>&quot;</span></li><li><span><strong>2016.</strong> The&nbsp;doors were opened to the world&#039;s first year-round open&nbsp;Icehotel, powered with the help of solar energy.</span></li><li><span><strong>2016.</strong> Icehotel&nbsp;was <a href=\"https://www.icehotel.com/ice-hotel-and-northern-lights-top-google\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">the most googled</a> destination&nbsp;when international travelers&nbsp;were&nbsp;googling Sweden.</span></li><li><span><strong>2010.</strong> Constructed an Arctic iceberg at the catwalk for Chanel&#039;s runway show in&nbsp;Paris.</span></li><li><span><strong>2001.</strong> Icehotel&nbsp;created an ice event in the Sahara, letting sub-zero temperatures meet the scorching sun and camels having a taste of the Torne River ice.</span></li></ul><p><a href=\"https://www.icehotel.com/highlights-icehotel-history\"><strong>Highlights</strong></a> in the history of&nbsp;Icehotel</p><p>The person starting&nbsp;Icehotel&nbsp;30 years ago was the entrepreneur and visionary Yngve Bergqvist. Holding on to the motto &ldquo;dig where you stand&rdquo;, he created one of Sweden&#039;s largest reasons for traveling, located in a place which had previously been pretty much a blank spot on the map.</p><blockquote>&quot;It&#039;s been a fantastic journey with a lot of pride and joy, and the reason for this is&nbsp;the&nbsp;employees throughout the years who&rsquo;ve really made an effort to give the guests, coming from all over the world, life-enriching&nbsp;moments during their stay&quot;, says Yngve Bergqvist,&nbsp;the&nbsp;founder of&nbsp;Icehotel. Read Yngve Bergqvist&#039;s story .</blockquote><p><strong>ICEHOTEL #30 can be experienced from December 13th until April 14th, after which the winter open part of&nbsp;Icehotel&nbsp;returns to the Torne River again. The permanent part of the hotel, Icehotel 365, remains to offer ice and snow experiences all year round.</strong></p><p><strong>Welcome&nbsp;to&nbsp;Icehotel!</strong></p><p><strong>Contact&nbsp; ICEHOTEL&nbsp; for more information and interviews:</strong><br>\u200b<br>\u200bJosefin Lindberg&nbsp;PR &amp; Media<br>\u200b<a href=\"mailto:press@icehotel.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">press@icehotel.com</a> /&nbsp;+46&nbsp;739 232725</p><p><strong>Visit&nbsp;our </strong><a href=\"https://www.icehotel.com/media\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><strong>press site for more high res images and press release archive.</strong></a></p><p><a href=\"www.icehotel.com\"><strong>www.icehotel.com</strong></a></p><p><br>\u200b<em>Art: &quot;Ginkgo&quot;&nbsp;by&nbsp;Nina &amp; Johan Kauppi. &quot;A&nbsp;Night&nbsp;at the Theatre&quot;&nbsp;by&nbsp;Jonathan Paul Green &amp;&nbsp;Marnie&nbsp;Green. &quot;Warm&nbsp;Up&quot;&nbsp;by&nbsp;Aleksandra&nbsp;Pasek&nbsp;&amp; Tomasz&nbsp;Czajkowski.&nbsp;Photos:&nbsp;Asaf&nbsp;Kliger, Icehotel</em><em><strong> Social media handles:</strong></em><em> Instagram: @icehotelswedenFacebook: @icehotel.swedenTwitter: @ICEHOTEL_SwedenLinkedIn: @Icehotel</em><br>\u200b<br>\u200b<br>\u200b<br>\u200b<br>\u200b</p>",
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