Compass
EXCURSION
COLD BY ASHLEA HALPERN
If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, Sweden’s Icehotel has a lot of admirers. As
the world’s first inn constructed entirely of snow and ice, it has been fending off frozen copycats for decades. So what’s the secret to staying ahead of the competition? “Seeking out conceptual artists instead of ice sculptors,” says longtime Creative Director Arne Bergh. “Otherwise, we’d just have a lot of swans and eagles.” Icehotel was founded back in 1989 by Swedish art enthusiast Yngve Bergqvist. At the time, he was leading summer rafting trips in the remote village of Jukkasjärvi, 124 miles above the Arctic Circle, and brainstorming ways to attract tourists to the area year-round. Intrigued by ice as an artistic medium, he asked two Japanese sculptors to lead an ice-carving workshop in nearby Kiruna that winter. The next year, Bergqvist hand built an igloo art gallery atop the frozen Torne River. Visitors thought it was so cool that they asked to spend the night — and Icehotel was born.
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Artful Living
PHOTOGRAPHY BY ASAF KLIGER AND MARTIN SMEDSÉN
THE WORLD’S FIRST ICE HOTEL TURNS 30 THIS WINTER — AND IT’S NEVER BEEN COOLER.