Every morning, the thermometers inside the suites of the Icehotel in Jukkasjärvi register between -5 and -8 degrees Celsius. It is not a heating malfunction: it is the design temperature, precisely maintained to preserve the ice sculptures that make up the walls, ceilings, beds, and even the glasses at the bar. Built every year starting in November on the banks of the Torne River in Swedish Lapland, this building does not survive the summer — it deliberately melts, returning the water to the river from which it was drawn.
The Icehotel was born in 1989 thanks to the initiative of Yngve Bergqvist, a Swedish entrepreneur who transformed an experimental idea — hosting Japanese visitors in an igloo — into an international architectural project. Since then, every winter, artists from around the world are selected through a competition to design and sculpt the themed suites, making each season a unique and unrepeatable edition. Since 2016, there is also a permanent section, Icehotel 365, which remains open all year round thanks to a cooling system powered by solar energy.
The architecture of ice: materials and structure
The building material is taken directly from the Torne River during the coldest months, when the ice reaches a sufficient thickness. The blocks are integrated with the so-called snice, a mixture of snow and compressed ice that offers greater structural strength and allows for more detailed work compared to just clear ice. The vaults of the main suites are built using a dome technique that distributes the weight evenly, without the need for internal supports — a solution that leaves the spaces completely free for artistic installations.
Walking through the corridors of the Icehotel, one immediately notices how light behaves differently depending on the thickness of the material: where the ice is thin, it filters a bluish almost fluorescent light; where it is compact and opaque, the walls take on gray-pearl tones. Each surface has been handcrafted with traditional sculpting tools, and the imperfections — small air bubbles, natural streaks — are part of the final result desired by the artists.
The artistic suites: a temporary museum
The thematic suites, called Art Suites, are the heart of the project. Each year, about 20-30 suites with individual concepts are created, selected by an international jury from hundreds of proposals. The themes range from Arctic nature to Nordic mythology, from geometric abstraction to more personal narratives of the artists. In some suites, the walls are engraved with reliefs that reproduce stylized spruce forests; in others, the bed is topped with a carved canopy that mimics frozen sea waves.
The hotel bar, the Icebar, is one of the most photographed environments: the counters, the shelves, and even the glasses are made from ice from the Torne. The glasses are regularly replaced during the season to maintain the quality of the surface. Entry to the Icebar is also accessible to visitors who are not staying at the hotel, often with a ticket that includes a welcome drink — a formula that allows guests to see the interiors without booking a night.
Practical information for the visit
Jukkasjärvi is located about 200 kilometers north of the Arctic Circle, accessible by plane to Kiruna Airport, which is just 17 kilometers away. From Kiruna, there are shuttles and taxis that connect the village to the hotel. The winter season of the traditional Icehotel runs approximately from December to April, while Icehotel 365 is open for visits all year round. For those wishing to stay in the Art Suites, it is highly recommended to book several months in advance, as availability is limited and demand often exceeds supply as early as autumn.
Those who do not wish to sleep in the cold can opt for the heated rooms of the same complex, which still provide access to the artistic areas. For daytime visits to the suites, it is useful to know that natural light significantly changes the appearance of the sculptures: the central hours of the day in winter, when the polar sun remains low on the horizon, produce chromatic effects that nighttime photographs with flash cannot capture. Bring additional thermal layers even for short visits: even a few minutes in the unheated suites can be felt.
What remains after the melting
One of the most unique characteristics of the Icehotel is its deliberately ephemeral nature. None of the artistic suites are preserved: with the spring thaw, each sculpture returns to being water from the Torne. This cyclicality is an integral part of the project's philosophy and distinguishes the Icehotel from any other existing museum or accommodation facility. The participating artists know from the beginning that their work will last at most one season.
The photographic and video documentation of each edition is archived by the hotel, and some images are displayed in the common areas of the heated facility. It is one of the few cases where the catalog of an architecture exists only as a digital memory — the original building has never survived long enough to be photographed in ruins.
