Lithuania in the News
1st March 2009
Lithuanian Baroque Monuments and Fairy Tale in Ice - in Lithuania and Japan

Ice sculptures in the Town Hall Square in Vilnius.
Photo courtesy Lietuvos Rytas
Last week saw seven of the baroque architectural masterpieces of Vilnius sculpted out of ice in the Town Hall Square of Vilnius. Lithuania’s capital Vilnius is famous for its baroque architecture and from February 21 to February 28 the people of Vilnius and visitors could admire seven famous baroque churches in ice lit up as part of the
The Lithuanian prize winning ice sculpture in Japan.
Photo courtesy www.snowfes.com
Vilnius - 2009 European Capital of Culture celebrations. The traditional Shrove Tuesday festivities were held in the middle of this period and in Vilnius they were held against the backdrop of the ice sculptures. Seven Lithuanian and visiting artists sculpted the ice monuments.
Earlier in February Lithuanian ice artists also took part in the in the 36th International Sapporo Snow Festival in Japan. A team from Kaunas, competing against other teams from 12 countries, won the second prize with an ice sculpture based on a Lithuanian fairy tale. In the fairy tale a mouse finds a glove, moves in and invites friends to share it - a frog, a hare, a fox and a wolf. Everything goes fine, until a bear decides to join in! The Sapporo Snow Festival is visited by about two million people every year and continues to attract more and more visitors. It is one of the largest winter events in Japan.

Further information:   www.lrytas.lt 17&22/02/09
http://www.culturelive.lt/en/vilnius2009/news/baroqueice/      http://www.snowfes.com/english/index.html