DAILY MAGIC ICE MUSEUM TOUR ITINERARY:
Magic Ice Istanbul was world's first ice museum in a warm climate located in Forum Shopping Mall.
As Istanbul readied for summer, one of the first permanent ice museums in a warm climate opened and closed its doors, set to be a cold heaven for those who want to escape the city's heat.
The Magic Ice Museum was realized with an investment of $20 million by the Lofoten Trading Company from Norway, where ice museums have become an art.
The Magic Ice Museum covered 1,400 square meters. Visitors weared special Eskimo-style clothes and enter the museum through an ice tunnel. The museum's interior temperature was kept at minus 5 degrees Celsius in both winter and summer.
Some 70 tons of ice were brought from the River Torne in Sweden's Jukkasjarvi region to make the museum's ice statues, while its walls and tunnels were made with 100 tons of ice provided by Istanbul.
The museum was conceived by the designers and sculptors of the Ice Hotel in Sweden.
The first section of the museum explained the Vikings' 880 visit to Istanbul to visitors, who are provided with information through writings on sheets of ice.
The information stated that the first Vikings, who came to Istanbul over the Black Sea, used the name Miklagard, which means protected lands, for the city.
A Runic writing, which belonged to a Viking soldier named Halvdan, has been found on the walls of the Hagia Sophia Museum in Istanbul.
The museum also holded an eight-meter boat and a house made of ice, as well as a map of the first Vikings' travels.
The two other sections of the museum included information about Scandinavian nature and an ice vitamin bar, where visitors were offered fruit juice in ice glasses.
The Magic Ice museum was located inside the Forum Istanbul shopping mall in Bayrampasa district, next to the Turquazoo Aquarium.
DAILY MAGIC ICE MUSEUM TOUR INCLUDES:
- Pick up transfer from your hotel
- All entrance fees mentioned in the itinerary
- Transportation in a fully air-conditioned, non-smoking coach
- Professional English-speaking tour guide
- Return transfer to your hotel