Sand sculptureSculptors from all over the world gather in the small northern Italian beach resort of Jesolo to create sculptures in sand. This year's sculptures are dedicated in particular to the Beijing Olympics. Others focus on traditional Christmas Nativity scenes. Sculptors create a monumental piece "China and the Olympics." The beautiful life-like creation took over a month to evolve. After preparation of the base the sand was worked into a sculpture over five meters high. Every year during the Christmas season, sculptors gather at Jesolo. Their sculptures depict stories and figures from the Bible: Journey to Bethlehem; the Annunciation; Angel and Shepherds; Joseph's dream; the Nativity and the Three Kings. The sculptors molded the nativity scene from a mountain of sand inside a heated glass pavilion located not far from the town's beaches. Lorena Mucelli, organizer, said, "It is an exhibition that represents the nativity and is built from a lot of artists of sand sculpting coming from all over the world. The most important from the United States, Canada, Holland and the United Kingdom and the Czech Republic." Every year at Christmas the city of Jesolo dedicates a sand statue to a man distinguished for his commitment to peace. The statue becomes part of the Sand Nativity installation. This year's is a life-like sand replica of the spiritual and political leader of India's independence movement, Mahatma Gandhi. It stands proudly next to the nativity scene. Inscribed on the base are Gandhi's own words, "A man stands where his heart can be found, not his body.' Sand sculpture