The Ice Sculpture Trail, located in the middle of a forest in the Ikuri residential area, has become a tradition and a popular winter destination for people of all ages. In 2022, the sculpture trail also served as a beautiful homage to the memory and life’s work of Kirsi Kunnas, who had recently passed away. The sculpture trail featured characters from her collection of poems, Tiitiäisen satupuu (Tumpkin’s Wonder Tree).
The sculpture trail is built by volunteers and contains several ice sculptures decorated with colourful lights. The beautifully lit sculptures are at their most impressive in the evening twilight. The sculpture trail not only offers visitors magnificent experiences free of charge; it also encourages people to go out and spend time together in nature. The Ice Sculpture Trail is a fine example of communal cultural and civic activities on a grassroots level.
The Ice Sculpture Trail’s inventors started working on winter events 25 years ago, when they organised a snow sculpture event. The first Ice Sculpture Trail was built in the winter of 2017.
- The idea of combining nature and sculptures has always been fascinating, but transporting ice from the lake and sculpting it in the forest is quite challenging. We decided to give it a try anyway, and things have worked out well. Last year, the sculpture trail had about 30,000 visitors in four weeks, explains Kari Manninen, the man responsible for the planning and implementation of the sculpture trail.
The design, sculpting and lighting of the sculpture trail have been carried out almost entirely by volunteers.
- Professional sculptors also participated in the early years, but these days we have plenty of skilled local sculptors in Ikuri. The lighting is also designed and implemented by our own volunteers. The Cultural Deed Award is a heart-warming and appreciated honour, Manninen acknowledges gratefully.
The Cultural Deed Award is granted for special efforts made to develop or enrich the cultural field of Tampere. The Education and Culture Committee selected the cultural deed of the year at their meeting in January. The decision was based on proposals from city residents. The award was presented on Thursday 9 February 2023 at the Experience Economy Event in Tuulensuu Palace.
- It was great to see that this year there were, once again, many excellent proposals for the cultural deed of the year. This demonstrates the scope and quality of our cultural field. The Education and Culture Committee discussed the award in a meeting and unanimously decided to grant it to the Ikuri Ice Sculpture Trail, says Deputy Mayor Matti Helimo, who presented the award.
