The Star of Bethlehem is the only ice sculpture festival in Russia dedicated to the Feast of the Nativity of Christ. . .
The XVI International Christmas Ice Sculpture Festival — "The Star of Bethlehem" — just came to a close in Yekaterinburg. The winners were chosen by a jury headed by Metropolitan Evgeny of Yekaterinburg and Verkhoturye.
The Star of Bethlehem is the only ice sculpture festival in Russia dedicated to the Feast of the Nativity of Christ.
For seven days, more than 20 teams from Yekaterinburg, St. Petersburg, Moscow, Sochi, Irkutsk, Barnaul, the Nenets Autonomous Okrug, Novosibirsk, the Perm region, the Tver Region, the Udmurt Republic, the Urals, and also Serbia, worked to produce unique ice figures — true works of art. The public got an opportunity to witness the miracle of artistic creation right from the start.
The artists covered a whole range of subjects and themes — the Nativity of Christ, new martyrs and confessors of the Russian Church, the holy Emperor Nicholas II and his wife Alexandra, the establishment of the Russian Spiritual Mission in Jerusalem, the 600th anniversary of discovering the relics of St. Sergius of Radonezh, and even the launch of the world's first artificial satellite in 1957.
The jury selected three prize-winning ice sculptures: “Heavenly Shepherd”, “The Way to the Star”, and “Russian Knight. 1913. Igor Sikorsky.”
The "Star of Bethlehem" Ice Sculpture Festival is held annually in Yekaterinburg, Russia, and has already become a part of the city's cultural life.
