Eighteen teams are taking part in this year's international ice sculpture festival in the Russian city of Yekaterinburg.
For five days the city's central square is turned into a building site as international teams get to work creating their entries.
The festival this year has a special theme - the East.
The idea was proposed by the city administration, because in the summer of 2009 Yekaterinburg will host the summit of Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) grouping Russia, China and the four ex-Soviet Asian republics (Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstab, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan).
Sonia Legg reports.
