I was a very impressionable first grader when The Empire Strikes Back was released in theaters.  At the time, I thought Hoth was the coolest place ever.  A planet of ice and snow?  What could be better!  I loved to imagine myself wandering the tunnels of the rebel base and riding tauntauns across barren wastelands.

I didn’t realize that my draw to Sweden’s Icehotel was deeply rooted in this early memory until the moment I set foot inside. As we opened the reindeer hide doors to reveal translucent aqua ice pillars I thought, “An entire building made of ice and snow?  Yes, I can imagine Han Solo and Princess Leia hooking up in a place like this.”

The Icehotel is a novelty for certain, but there’s an emotional connection that many, like me, do not expect.  A certain childhood whimsy transcends the structure that goes way beyond “sleeping in a frozen room.”  I’m sure that most visitors who make the pilgrimage to the Icehotel simply want to check a box off a bucket list.  But they cannot leave without taking a giddy sense of jubilant wonder with them.  I can promise you, it’s impossible to visit and still retain a jaded attitude of “meh.”

To say that the Icehotel is gimmicky is letting your cynicism get in the way of what it truly is: a fleeting work of art.  It’s human ingenuity and playfulness at it’s best.  The discomfort experienced by those who elect to sleep in 23-degree rooms is almost beside the point.  What you encounter instead, is a frozen museum made from unusual medium: blocks of river ice, snow and lots of snice (that’s the secret stuff that holds it all together – to find out more read part II: Icehotel Inner Workings and Fun Factoids).

By day, sunlight passes through clear ice windows casting a dazzling ethereal glow inside.  At night, tiny LED lights hidden in walls and windows make the structure radiate in creative ways I’ve never seen anywhere else.  The common areas like the ice bar, church and lobby along with 1/3 of the rooms are essentially commissioned art installations forged by artists from all over the world.  Each adds his or her personality in unforeseen ways.

Some rooms are dreamy (The Flower suite with its garden of carved blossoms), some playful (the Elliptical suite with its rubber balls that roll down ice channels carved into the walls and bed) some are nerdy (the Virgin in Space suite made to look like the cockpit of a space ship).Thousands of hours go into creating these spaces, yet their lifespan will be mere months.  Come summer, the arctic midnight sun will dissolve everything sending it back to the Torne river.  Knowing that the intricate dragon and ice chandelier will vanish forever makes the experience all the more marvelous.

Life is temporary the palace seems to say.  Gather ye rosebuds while ye may.

For more on the construction of the Icehotel, read part II of this post : Icehotel Inner Workings and Fun Factoids

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