Saturday, June 25, 2005

Sandcastles Sculptures of Ancient Egypt

http://travel.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,10295-1667010,00.html
A little weekend trivia for you, proving how resilient the British sense of humour truly is. "The town with possibly the pebbliest beach in Britain is to host a sand sculpture festival this summer. Ten thousand tons of special sand will be shipped from the Netherlands and deposited in Brighton Marina so that 60 artists from all over the world can recreate the wonders of Ancient Egypt. Organisers are confident that the sculptures, made purely from sand and water, will remain intact whichever way the wind blows, up to force 7. The highlight of the festival, which runs from July 14 to September 11, will be a 50ft-high pyramid. Sphinxes, mummies, temples, Rameses II and Tutankhamun himself will all be depicted. See the article for opening hours and prices".

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

They're nicking our sand!?!
;)

For those who are into this craft/art:


--THE NETHERLANDS--

Zandsculptuur Apeldoorn
Park Berg & Bos (near the Apenheul)
J.C. Wilslaan 21, Apeldoorn
tel. 0900 222 73 74

"Sand sculptures Apeldoorn: Discover Ancient Egypt"
Sand sculptures recreate ancient Egyptian monuments in an
Egyptian surroundings. "The culture of the sun is displayed
in over 60 scenes, and our guests are being educated through
eight audio-information-systems. In the first two weeks,
we received over 10.000 visitors. "
date: June 1 - August 15, 2005
info: a website in English, Dutch and German:
http://www.zandsculptuurapeldoorn.nl

Andie said...

Thanks for this! I had no idea that sand sculptures of Ancient Egypt were such a big thing. Sounds like a lot of fun - might try and get down to the coast to see it.

Totally off-topic, but when I lived in Scheveningen as a kid in the 70s we had a set of really bad storms and the beach dissapeared completely. As the town depended on tourism that was a disaster - so the beach was reconstructed over the winter! A brand new shiny all-improved sandy beach was ready for the tourists in the summer. I have always had a huge amount of respect for Dutch sand - and I can see it very clearly as a quality export!