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© RIA Novosti . Ольга Парфенова
The Sand Sculpture Festival has been annually held in Belgium since 1997. Sculptors from the U.S., Russia, China, Britain, France, Spain, Italy, Netherlands and Belgium took part in the festival in 2009. Crowds of people come to the beach side town of Blankenberge to admire sand sculptures of pirates, who are the main heroes of the current festival.
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© RIA Novosti . Ольга Парфенова
Captain Jack Sparrow from Pirates of the Caribbean.
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© RIA Novosti . Ольга Парфенова
Davy Jones, the captain of the Flying Dutchman from Pirates of the Caribbean.
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© RIA Novosti . Ольга Парфенова
The Dead Man's Chest.
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© RIA Novosti . Ольга Парфенова
Skull and crossbones - a pirate symbol of agonizing death.
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© RIA Novosti . Ольга Парфенова
The Sea god Triton.
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© RIA Novosti . Ольга Парфенова
Mermaids and dolphins - mythic inhabitants of the ocean depths.
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© RIA Novosti . Ольга Парфенова
Evil pirates row a boat.
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© RIA Novosti . Ольга Парфенова
A cartoon cheerful pirate.
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© RIA Novosti . Ольга Парфенова
Evil and good-natured pirates at the sand sculpture festival
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© RIA Novosti . Ольга Парфенова
Despite the "pirate" theme of the festival, the organizers decided to pay tribute to the late King of Pop, Michael Jackson.
