Nativity ice sculpture festival held in Russia

The 16th Star of Bethlehem Ice Sculpture Festival dedicated to the Nativity of Christ, was held in Yekaterinburg on Friday. The event traditionally takes place in the first days of January on the square in front of the Church on the Blood, where locals of the city can view the entire process of the creation of the ice sculptures.

Twenty-one sculptor teams from different Russian cities took part in the event. Each team received five cubic meters of ice to start their work out of 5,000 litres of ice prepared from the local water reservoir.  Several sculptures were dedicated to 600 years since the uncovering of the relics of St. Sergius of Radonezh.

The jury announced the competition winners on Friday.  The ice sculptures will go on show to the public from 14 January until 15 February.