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Sand Sculpture Festival Gathers Wonders in Turkey | ASHARQ AL-AWSAT English Archive 2005 -2017
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Ankara- The 11th edition of Antalya’s traditional Sand Sculpture Festival has kicked off on the Mediterranean coast of the Turkish city of Antalya. This year’s edition is themed “World’s Wonders and Mythology”.

This festival lures thousands of visitors annually and has become one of the permanent political and promotional occasions in Antalya, one of the biggest coastal cities of Turkey. Antalya competes with Istanbul and ranks second in attracting tourists.

The festival features sculptors and artists from Turkey and abroad to compete in making sculptures for famous temples, the seven world wonders, old myths, and historical figures.

Every year, the festival’s location turns into an open-air area and gathers the world’s features and historic monuments in one place, so its visitors can have the chance to move from a country to another without the need to travel.

According to Cem Karaca, director of Antalya’s traditional Sand Sculpture Festival, this year’s edition exhibits more than 150 monuments inspired by the above-mentioned theme.

More than 20 artists from 12 countries partook in the festival. They used around 10 tons of sands in their sculptures.

Among the monuments featured in the festival are sand statutes depicting the Big Pyramid, Abou L Hol, Mexican temples, the Eiffel Tower, the Taj Mahal, and ancient, and well-known mythological figures.

The festival also includes a sculpture embodying the popular resistance for the failed coup attempt that took place in Turkey in July, along with other historic figures like the Founder of modern Turkey Mustapha Kamal Atatürk.
Karaca said the festival, which is being organized on Lara Beach, had something for everyone. “Visitors learn about culture and arts while seeing the sculptures, which are made of sand and water only.”

He said that due to great interest, they had decided to open the exhibition for 12 months of the year.