China's giant frozen castle built entirely from ICE: Enormous structure that towers over construction crane forms centrepiece of annual snow festival

Enormous over 26-metre tower to be the centerpiece of the Harbin Ice and Snow Festival, which will fully open in 2014



10,000 workers have been working non-stop to complete the event's remarkable ice and snow structures

Over 180,000 sq metres of ice, some chipped off from the Songhua River and dragged to the festival site, used overall




These pictures show an enormous frozen castle - built entirely from ice - created for the 30th Harbin Ice and Snow Festival.

The remarkable tower, which is at least 26 metres high and measures around 20 storeys, is one of the main attractions at the festival - which sees thousands of tourists flock to the city of Harbin, near the China and Russian border, every year.



In this series of photographs, workers can be seen chipping blocks of ice from the nearby Songhua River for the tower, before dragging the 551lb blocks towards the site.



Frozen palace: This is an enormous 26-metre ice castle built for the Harbin Ice and Snow Festival out of ice from the nearby Songhua River

Looks like hard work: Employees stab iron pikes into the frozen Songhua River as they extract giant ice cubes to make sculptures for the festival

An arduous task: Workers pull a giant ice cube out of the river and drag it towards the main festival site. Each ice cube weighs about 551lb

One worker is then pictured putting the blocks in place, before pouring water on them to freeze them together.

Another can then be seen polishing the work to give it an amazing, crystal-like finish.

According to event organisers, 10,000 people were employed to complete hundreds of ice and snow sculptures at the event - some areas of which are already open to the public.



Stake out: A worker stabs a pike made from iron into the frozen water. 10,000 were employed to complete the structures and 180,000 sq metres of ice will be used

Building blocks: One worker polishes an ice sculpture - made from thousands of blocks frozen together, pictured - ahead of the start of festivities in January

Technique: To secure the structure, a worker pours water onto ice cubes to make them stick to one another before leveling them off and polishing

Some of the pieces measure more than 26 metres tall and 117 metres wide. Overall, the whole site is well over 600,000 sq metres .

All in all, about 180,000 sq metres of ice and 150,000 sq metres of snow will be used to complete all the works.



In the evening, some of the structures are lit up in a beautiful light-show display.

Quite the spectacle: Early visitors have a look around a smaller ice castle at the ice festival - which officially opens at the beginning of next year

Not quite finished: Workers and scaffolding next to one of the newly-built ice sculptures illuminated by hundreds of coloured lights

Bright: Visitors gather next to an ice gate sculpture in one of the open areas of the festival last night. Weather depending, it will stay open until February next year

Some of these pictures show the spectacle - with numerous palaces, towers and monuments in the festival lit up in every colour of the rainbow.



In the New Year, tourists can enjoy the artwork for themselves in addition to the Ice Lantern Garden Party, skiing, figure skating and theatre performances.

Visitors may also wish to visit the event's Siberian Tiger Park or perhaps watch fishing, swimming and diving performances on the frozen river.

Others may wish to enjoy a tipple in the event's ice bar.

How unusual: A giant carving of a childhood cartoon character, complete with ear muffs, looms over some early visitors to the festival

Dwarfed: Skilled craftsmen carve a 117-metre-long snow sculpture, featuring a horse and a woman, in one area of the park last week

Attention to detail: Workers carve a large snow sculpture that features a rather cross looking dinosaur for the festival

Some visitors to the area have already been enjoying horse-drawn carriage rides across the frozen river.



Harbin's festival is one of world's four largest international ice festivals, along with Japan's Sapporo Snow Festival, Canada's Quebec Winter Carnival, and Norway's Ski Festival.

It officially starts on January 5 and usually lasts to the end of February, weather permitting.