Jongno Ice Sculpture Festival

I happened to be looking for a pair of pants this morning at between 4:00 and 5:00 AM (don't ask) when I happened upon the Jongno Ice Sculpture Festival! I wanted to capture these beautiful sculptures on my camera before the sun came out and ruined them, so I hurried home, charged my camera as quickly as possible, went back to the festival, and managed to capture every single sculpture on my camera before the batteries died (due to short charging time). Sure, this festival is probably nothing compared to the one in Harbin, China, but I thought it was pretty cool. The sculptures are so intricate, I decided to break with my tradition of sizing images down to 640 pixels in width or less, and go instead for a maximum of 1024 to show finer detail. So expect pictures with a longer load time, but I think they'll be worth it.


This is the sign built into the front of the Gyeongbok Palace sculpture that comprises the main gate of the festival.


Here's a view of the giant Gyeongbok Palace gate/sculpture from the other side. This sculpture's name is 경복궁의 동문 건춘문 (Gyeongbokgungeui Dongmun Geonchunmun). For those of you who aren't aware, Gyeongbokgung is a palace in Seoul (the same one my class went to to make masks in Level 5, see earlier post).


Ice Sculpture #2 -- 수막새의 미소 (Sumaksaeeui Miso)
A 수막새 (sumaksae) is roofing tile, so this means "Smile of a Roofing Tile."


Ice Sculpture #3 -- 하회탈 (Hahoetal)
Hahoe is a town in Andong. It's famous for its variety of masks. Hahoetal literally translates to "Mask of Hahoe."


Ice Sculpture #4 -- 승무 (Seungmu)
"Seungmu" depicts a female Buddhist monk who is dancing.


Ice Sculpture #5 -- 흥 (興, Heung)
Heung can be translated to "Fun."


Ice Sculpture #6 -- 장승과 새해소망 얼음탑쌓기 (Jangseunggwa Saehaesomang Eoreumtapssaki)
This is a tough one to translate. I'll try a shot at it. I think it translates to "Jangseung and the New Year's Wishes Ice Tower Pileup."


Ice Sculpture #7 -- 승무 (Seungmu, the second one in the set)


Ice Sculpture #8 -- 지금처갓집 (Jigeumgcheogatjip)


Ice Sculpture #9 -- 석가탑 (Seokgatap)
Seokgatap is a pagoda in Gyeongju, which is a part of Bulguksa Temple, along with Dabotap.


Ice Sculpture #10 -- 다보탑 (Dabotap)
Dabotap is Seokgatap's counterpart, also found in Bulguksa in Gyeongju.


Me in Front of Seokgatap
Who was the cameraman? That's for me to know!