The Ice House (St. Petersburg)

[1] Traditionally in very cold winters on the Neva ice installations were built as fortresses for the training of soldiers and for the entertainment of the residents.

In the winter of 1739/40 with temperatures of −40 °C, A.D. Tatishchev, general and chief of the St. Petersburg police, before the construction of the ice palace.

The house was 16m long, 5m deep and 6m high; the walls were 3 feet thick on average, built from 120 kg blocks of ice.

In one of the rooms there were two mirrors, a dressing table, some candlesticks, a large bed, a chair and a fireplace with ice firewood.

The Russian tsarina Anna of Russia gave, from January 27 to February 17, 1740, "various celebrations in this magic castle for the giants of her court", each more splendid than the previous one.

After the church wedding, the bride and groom were placed in a large cage carried by an elephant and accompanied by over 400 people, some of whom rode camels, some sledged by reindeer, pigs, dogs, goats and cats.

Several other literary works depict The Ice House - Yuri Nagibin's story Kwasnik i Buscheninowa (1986).