Ice Castle

People look at fireworks at an ice palace during an opening ceremony in St. Petersburg, Russia, Wednesday, Feb. 8, 2006. The ice palace, a copy of a famous ice house created for Empress Anna Ioanovna in 1740, was built in Palace Square and opened on Wednesday.

A man lies on an ice bed in an ice palace in St. Petersburg, Russia, Wednesday, Feb. 8, 2006. A palace of ice that used to belong to Russian Empress Anna Ioanovna was rebuilt in the central square and includes the actual palace, a sauna, ice hills shaped like elephants and other figures.

A man sits in an ice chair at the head of an ice table in a room of an ice palace in St. Petersburg, Russia, Wednesday, Feb. 8, 2006. The ice palace, a copy of a famous ice house of the Empress Anna Ioanovna created in 1740, was built in Palace Square in St. Petersburg and opened on Wednesday.

A sculptor installs an ice sculpture on the roof of an ice palace built in Palace Square in St. Petersburg, Russia, Monday, Feb. 6, 2006. The palace, a copy of a famous ice house created in 1740, was reconstructed after a detailed description made by Georg Wolfgang Kraft, an academician at the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences.

Spectators watch as a sculptor works on an ice palace in Palace Square in St. Petersburg, Russia, Monday, Feb. 6, 2006. The building of the General Staff Headquarters, crowned by a triumphal chariot of Victory, is in the background.

A man enters a room of an ice palace built in Palace Square in St. Petersburg, Russia, Monday, Feb. 6, 2006. The ice palace is a copy of a famous ice house of the Empress Anna Ioanovna created in 1740.

A sculptor works on an ice palace built in St. Petersburg, Russia, Monday, Feb. 6, 2006. The ice palace is identical to the one built in 1740 for Russian Empress Anna Ioanovna during a grand carnival. A whole ice town was built on the bank of Neva River, with houses, gates and sculptures.

A sculptor cuts an ice cannon for an ice palace, in the background, being built in Palace Square in St. Petersburg, Russia, Monday, Feb. 6, 2006. The ice palace is copy of a famous ice house of the Empress Anna Ioanovna that was created in 1740.