“There’s NO business like SNOW Business!“ was the motto of the 2023 World Snow Sculpture Championship held in Stillwater, Minnesota in January. Twelve teams from around the world were selected to participate in the event, sanctioned by the World Ice and Snow Sculpture Association based in Finland. We show photos of a Canadian team with members Morton Burke, Will Truchon, and Christian Denis. Burke comments on their participation: “We didn’t win a prize, but we were a big success.“

During January/February 2013, Veronafiere promoted its Marmomac fair at 3 events in the Americas: its president Federico Bricolo was present at The International Surface Event/StonExpo (TISE) in Las Vegas and at the Chicago Architecture Biennale, vice-president Matteo Gelmetti visited Vitória Stone Fair in Brazil.

The Earth has a mini-moon discovered in December 2022, an asteroid named 2022 YG, with 52 to 98 feet (16 to 30 m) in diameter captured by the gravity of our planet probably sometime around 1961. As the website cnet reports, it may break free again in 2181.

The Historic Centre of Odesa (Ukraine) has been inscribed on the World Heritage List and also in the List of World Heritage in Danger. Unesco Committee’s decision recognizes the site’s outstanding universal value and the duty of all humanity to protect it.

Friedrich Mohs’ birthday marked its 250th anniversaryon January 29, 2023. The German-Austrian mineralogist had created the scale of mineral hardness.

The 2023 Global Stone Congress will take place in Batalha, Portugal, from June 18 to 23. Submission of abstracts is possible until February 15, 2023. Also in Batalha, from June 15 to 17, is scheduled the Stone Ibérica fair (1, 2).

German architect Arno Lederer has died. He was no friend of transparent shells for edifices: “Why should we step into buildings that tell us you‘re outside just when you entered?“ he asked. His office won the German Natural Stone Award in 2018 (1, 2).

The crystal skulls in private and public museum collections, mostly made from clear or milky white quartz, are said to be the work of the Aztec or Maya. After investigations, the webpage Heritagedaily concludes that the objects examined were manufactured in the mid-19th century or later, almost certainly in Europe, during a time when interest in ancient cultures abounded.

An ancient Norwegian rune stone is attracting international attention among runic scholars and archaeologists. The inscriptions are up to 2,000 years old and date back to the earliest days of the enigmatic runic writing.

Belgian artist Gerard Kuijpers shows his works in the Cultuurcentrum Mechelen until March 05, 2023. Mechelen is located between Antwerp and Brussels (1, 2).
 

Video of the month: the Fort de la Conchée is a fortress built by Louis XIV at the entrance to the port of Saint-Malo, France. Its stones are being restored in an exceptional project. The video shows the fort during a storm surge (1).

(02.02.2023)