The annual sand Nativity scene sculpture in Las Canteras, El Belen de Arena, continues to spread its fame across the globe, consolidating it as a unique and iconic Christmas concept in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, with recognition by the prestigious Times newspaper in the UK.
In a city, which in the middle of December it is possible to sunbathe on the beach, an elaborate nativity scene is sculpted in sand every year. This has been recognised by one of the leading and most respected newspapers in the world, The Times, which has included it as one of its seven prominent postcards of the week depicting Christmas around the globe.
Video showing construction of the amazing sand sculpture
The photo of the sand structure is alongside representative images of present day Christmas on The Times website, together with an impressive postcard of Mount Tianmen in China, a dog trained to detect Covid in Austria, an amazing snowfall in New York, the drawing of a heart in the ice of Lake Limni in Turkey, the smile of a Chilean girl before an eclipse and a fantastic picture of Papa Niel in a building in Moscow.
Las Canteras and its Nativity scene, continues year after year travelling the world through the Internet since its inception in 2005, becoming one of the most iconic images of Christmas on the entire planet, and delighting hundreds of thousands of visitors in Las Palmas every year.
The 2020 edition, which had to made with social distancing for visitors in mind, covers an area of 1,500m2 on the Las Canteras beach, using over 2,000 tons of sand and water, has eight different nativity scenes with nods to health workers, and was sculpted by eight people from different corners of the earth: Enguerrand David (Belgium), Marielle Hessels (Holland), Sanita Ravina (Lithuania), Leonardo Ugolini (Italy), Sue McGrew (USA), Aleksei Rybak (Russia), Vadim Gryadov (Russia) and Karen Fralich (Canada).
See the full article and photos from The Times here: https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/the-week-in-pictures-cqvz6gc05
