Have you ever wondered what it would feel like to spend a night in an igloo? Perhaps you should head to Sweden’s Lapland to see how warm ice can be.

Igloos are associated with Inuit people and people in Canada’s Central Arctic and Greenland, who used them to insulate themselves from the snow. While outside temperatures drop to forty-five degrees below, air pockets trapped inside the igloo can keep inhabitants warm through insulation.

The idea of using ice to keep warm might seem illogical, but Inuit people have been constructing these ice homes for generations, with the earliest film of igloo construction dating back to 1922, in the film ‘Nanook of the North’ exploring the lives of the Inuits.

Well if you’d like to see how ice can keep you warm without the bother of cutting large blocks of ice with an ivory snow knife, then perhaps Sweden’s Icehotel (branded ICEHOTEL) is for you.

History

In 1989 Japanese artists visited Jukkasjärvi, a village in the north of Sweden, to create an exhibit of ice art. The following year a French artist named Jannot Derid held an exhibition in the same place of a cylindrical igloo. The story goes that some visitors were unable to find accommodation in the nearby town, so asked the artist to spend the night inside the exhibition, sleeping in sleeping bags on reindeer skins. This was the birth of the Icehotel, and since then visitors from around the world have travelled to the Swedish village to spend the night in the hotel.

Construction

Construction work on the hotel begins each winter after the temperature drops. A snow gun (similar to the ones used on ski slopes) is used to spray snow onto steel forms. After a few days the snow is frozen and the steal forms are removed, leaving the basic layout of the hotel remaining. Additional walls are added to create rooms, and ice blocks are carved by ice sculptures to decorate the space.

The hotel opens in December, with new stages of the hotel being opened up each week until January, when the structure is completed, including a bar, church, a hall, reception area and over 100 guest rooms. The Icehotel lasts until springtime, when the ice melts and returns to the Torne River.

Each year the hotel design changes, with artists being asked to submit their ideas for guest rooms and suites. What surprises many visitors is just how much of the hotel is made from ice removed from the nearby Torne River. Not only are the walls and ceiling constructed from ice, but beds, tables, other pieces of furniture and even the glasses at the hotel bar are made from ice.

There are other hotels made from ice and snow, but Sweden’s is known to be the biggest, spanning almost 65,000 square feet. Each year the hotel is constructed to a unique design, so you can never visit the same Icehotel twice. If you like winter holidays consider a trip to the Icehotel in Sweden, it will take your breath away.

Anna Campbell writes on a number of subjects including Scandinavian holidays, ski holidays and discovering the world. Image by Paul Mannix