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A replica of the original Ice Palace from 1740 has been mounted on Dvortzovaja Ploschtjad near Hermitage Palace by the team of 14 ice-art masters led by famous ice-sculptor from St. Petersburg, Valerij Gromov (www.icestudio.ru) The replica has been build according to the original descriptions of Prof. G.Kraft from St.Petersburg Academy of Science which worked with original project 1740. This event was dedicated to the victory in Turkish war. Ice building on Dvortzovaja Ploschtjad was in these times part of carnival tradition. Ice art belongs also the Russian national tradition. In XVIII Century Russian ice artists worked systematically with design plans and drawings for ice sculptures and buildings. Current composition consists of the main house with 3 rooms decorated with ice sculptures and ice furniture, the bath, 2 elephants sculptures, 6 small canons and many smaller sculptures surrounding the palace. There are 22 sculptures all together. The carnival events consisted of parades, baths, and weddings. Now, after more than 100 years long break, these traditional events was revived in February and March 2006. The pictures were caught during 25 minutes long press release on 8th February 2006 (at minus 22 °Celsius).
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