PHOTOS: Winners of sand sculpture festival on Paradise Beach on Rab island revealed

9th Sand Sculpture Festival (Photo: TZ Lopar/Petar Lupic)

RAB, August 15 2020 – The 9th Sand Sculpture Festival, held on Paradise Beach in Lopar on the northern Adriatic island of Rab, has come to an end.

Held from August 11-14, sculptors from around Croatia created sculptures based on the theme “The Wonderful World of Mythical Beings” on Paradise Beach in Lopar. 

The winner of this year’s Sand Sculpture Festival was Goddess Lada. In second place went to a Jellyfish sand sculpture, whilst third place was a turtle.

9th Sand Sculpture Festival (Photo: TZ Lopar/Petar Lupic)

9th Sand Sculpture Festival (Photo: TZ Lopar)

Lopar has the sandiest beaches on the Adriatic and the largest and best known is Paradise Beach stretching for 1.5 kilometres. In 2019 the Ministry of Tourism and National Tourist Board proclaimed it the best beach in Croatia while in 2013 CNN listed it as one of the 100 best beaches in the world. 

9th Sand Sculpture Festival (Photo: TZ Lopar)

The festival was first held in 2012 and since then it has grown into an international festival. It was to have been held in June this year but was postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic.

9th Sand Sculpture Festival (Photo: TZ Lopar)

Most of the sculptures are up to 10 metres long and wide and two to three metres high and require exceptional effort to design at very high temperatures. If they were to be weighed, they would probably weigh between 30 and 70 tonnes.