Blankenberge - Sand sculpture Festival

A sand sculpture is a construction of sand and water. 4000 year B.C. the ancient Egypts already knew it as a form of art. A sand sculpture can be made with any kind of sand, but the exact type of sand that must be used depends on the form and height of the final sculpture.

The sand used to make the Blankenberge sculptures comes from a Belgian quarry in Mont-Saint-Guibert, a village close to the Ardennes. Some 50 million years ago, the North Sea came as far as this village. The coastline lay west of Paris and east of London! Originally, this sand is North Sea sand, but since the coastline retreated it has not been affected by the tides for millions of years. As a result, it kept its angular grainy structure.

Before the artists start their carving work, the sand is pressed into wooden moulds. This so-called ‘compacting’ is done with machinery and makes it into very strong blocks of sand. The blocks are hard enough to carve the finest sculptures.

The artists rather talk about carving instead of sculpturing. They always work from top to bottom and systematically take away the wooden moulds, which they use as supports for their feet, while carving. In this way, the tallest and most impressive sculptures can be made.

Each carver or sculptor has got his own speciality. One is an expert in architecture, another in anatomy. To make sculptures of the highest quality, carvers come together from all over the world to work on this project as a true team. Fifty carvers from twenty different countries worked for this festival. Every year there is another theme (subject).

The site lies about 800 metres away from the railway station of Blankenberge. The place it's well-known also as a popular seaside resort of Belgium.

The entrance fee is about 9 euro/pers.