When the polar night is over and the sun returns, the people of Kiruna celebrate the snow and the winter during the Kiruna Snow Festival.
Kiruna Snow Festival has been arranged during the last weekend of January since 1986. Here you can take part in the rich culture that Kiruna has to offer with everything from snow-sculptures, art exhibitions, dog sledding, figure skating, live music performances and a kid’s playground designed and built by snow.
But the main event of the festival is undoubtedly the Kiruna International Snow Sculpture Competition – a world class competition which attracts the best artists from around the globe.
In 2022 Condé Nast Traveller named the festival one of “50 events worth travelling for” and Lonely Planet has called Kiruna Snow Festival a “key event” when visiting Sweden during January.
Photo: Kiruna Snow Festival/Kjell Törmä
Photo: Kiruna Snow Festival/Kjell Törmä
Photo: Kiruna Snow Festival/Kjell Törmä
Photo: Kiruna Snow Festival/Kjell Törmä
Photo: Kiruna Snow Festival/Kjell Törmä
You can watch the artists at work, sculpting the most fantastic pieces of art during the whole festival. From Wednesday 25/1 until Saturday 28/1 the artists will work on their sculptures in the Snow Festival Park and the winners will then be announced by the official festival jury on Saturday afternoon. The sculptures will be available for public display (free of charge) in the Snow Festival Park until they melt away during the spring.
All photos: Johan Ylitalo & Kiruna Snow Festival/Kjell Törmä
Kiruna Snow Festival 2023 is arranged January 25-29. The full schedule and all information about the festival can be found at www.snofestivalen.com
