Event History
French chefs began the art of ice sculpturing more than 200 years ago. The first art sculptures were basic designs used as functional food holders to keep food cold during service time for elaborate buffets. Russians learned the art from French chefs at the turn of the eighteenth century.
The first well documented ice palace was built as a setting for a monstrous joke. On the frozen river, Neva, in the winter of 1739 through 1740, a shivering bride and groom spent their wedding night in a building of ice. The palace was designed by an architect commissioned by the Empress Ann Ivanova. The Empress built this palace to express her jealousy for an old lover who had run off with a peasant girl. This was her way of punishing the couple by making them spend their honeymoon night in an ice castle. The palace was complete with ice cannons that actually fired and a bedroom with a vanity, dresser with mirror, table, chairs and a canopy bed all made from ice.
The Japanese chefs picked up the art of ice sculpturing from the French chefs in the last thirty years. Just recently the Japanese have been considered the masters of the art form. In Japan ice sculpturing is a full time profession, the sculptors carve wood in the summer and ice in the winter. In America ice sculpturing is a relatively young art form helping to revive the dying craft as part of the culinary profession.
In the last 26 years the Plymouth International Ice Sculpture Spectacular has been the reason for this art form being rediscovered in Michigan. Carvers from all over the world come to sculpt in one of the largest and best ice carving events in the country. Over the last 26 years the event has attracted over 13,000,000 people to the quaint Western Wayne community. The 27th Annual Plymouth Ice Spectacular will take place January 23 - 25, 2009, in downtown Plymouth, Michigan.