Cold snap lets History Museum stage exhibition on ice sculpture

LONDON is hosting its first ice sculpture festival this weekend thanks to this month's cold snap.

Up to 40,000 people are expected to come to the National History Museum this weekend to watch world class sculptors carving two-tonne blocks of ice with chainsaws.

Experts will give free ice sculpting master classes, and five ice-sculpting teams from around the world will be racing against time to finish their three-metre sculptures before they are judged on Sunday.

The festival's organiser Carol Cordrey said: "Nothing like this [festival] has ever happened in Britain because of our climate. I must be the only person in London who is thrilled that it is so cold."

The artists are planning intricate pieces for the festival, themed "wildlife in the city". One features ants perfectly carved into the ice.

The blocks of ice were transported in freezer lorries from Belgium. The cold means that the sculptures would last about three weeks outside the museum if they were left alone. Mrs Cordrey added: "It is extraordinary to see these delicate works of art created by people wielding chainsaws.

"These works are ethereal and then they are gone for good."