The SnowCastle of Kemi ( fi, Kemin lumilinna) is the biggest

snow fort A snow fort or snow castle is a usually open-topped temporary structure made of snow walls that is usually used for recreational purposes. Snow forts are generally built by children as a playground game or winter pastime and are used as defensiv ...

in the world. It is rebuilt every winter with a different architecture in

Kemi Kemi (; sme, Giepma ; smn, Kiemâ; sms, Ǩeeʹmm; Swedish (historically): ''Kiemi'') is a town and municipality of Finland. It is located very near the city of Tornio and the Swedish border. The distance to Oulu is to the south and to Rovani ...

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

. In 1996 the first snow castle drew 300,000 visitors. For several years the snowcastle was located in the Kemi city harbor. in 2017 the location was moved into a nearby park. Current address is Mansikkanokankatu 15. The area covered by the castle has varied from 13,000 to over 20,000 square metres. The highest towers have been over 20 metres high and longest walls over 1,000 metres long, and the castle has had up to three stories. Despite its varying configurations, the snow castle has a few recurring elements: a

chapel A chapel is a Christian place of prayer and worship that is usually relatively small. The term has several meanings. Firstly, smaller spaces inside a church that have their own altar are often called chapels; the Lady chapel is a common ty ...

, a

restaurant A restaurant is a business that prepares and serves food and drinks to customers. Meals are generally served and eaten on the premises, but many restaurants also offer take-out and food delivery services. Restaurants vary greatly in appearan ...

and a

hotel A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. Facilities provided inside a hotel room may range from a modest-quality mattress in a small room to large suites with bigger, higher-quality beds, a dresser, a ref ...

. * The SnowRestaurant has ice tables and seats covered with

reindeer Reindeer (in North American English, known as caribou if wild and ''reindeer'' if domesticated) are deer in the genus ''Rangifer''. For the last few decades, reindeer were assigned to one species, ''Rangifer tarandus'', with about 10 subspe ...

fur, as well as

ice sculpture Ice sculpture is a form of sculpture that uses ice as the raw material. Sculptures from ice can be abstract or realistic and can be functional or purely decorative. Ice sculptures are generally associated with special or extravagant events because ...

s. * The

ecumenical Ecumenism (), also spelled oecumenism, is the concept and principle that Christians who belong to different Christian denominations should work together to develop closer relationships among their churches and promote Christian unity. The adjec ...

SnowChapel with 50–100 seats has seen numerous weddings of couples from as far away as

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

and

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...

. * The SnowHotel offers a choice of double rooms and a

honeymoon A honeymoon is a vacation taken by newlyweds immediately after their wedding, to celebrate their marriage. Today, honeymoons are often celebrated in destinations considered exotic or romantic. In a similar context, it may also refer to the phase ...

suite, all of which are decorated by local artists using local materials. The SnowCastle of Kemi also hosts such things as an adventure land for children, a theatre and ice art exhibitions with lights and sound effects. Many

opera Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a librett ...

singers and

dance Dance is a performing art form consisting of sequences of movement, either improvised or purposefully selected. This movement has aesthetic and often symbolic value. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoir ...

rs have performed in the SnowCastle of Kemi.

References

External links

Kemi SnowCastle
- The world's biggest snowcastle
SnowCastle Image Gallery
- Zipped photo collection
Webcam pointed to the maingate of the SnowCastle

{{coord, 65.7261, 24.5687, region:FI-LL_type:landmark_source:dewiki, display=title Tourist attractions in Finland Buildings and structures made of snow or ice Kemi Buildings and structures in Lapland (Finland) Tourist attractions in Lapland (Finland)

See also

References

External links