Flower carpet, Grand place, Brussels, Belgium, Europe
by Neale And Judith Clark
Title
Flower carpet, Grand place, Brussels, Belgium, Europe
Artist
Neale And Judith Clark
Medium
Photograph - Photography
Description
The Flower Carpet is a biennial event in Brussels in which volunteers from around Belgium convene at the Grand-Place/Grote Markt, the historic centre of the city, to weave a carpet-like tapestry out of colourful begonias. The event takes place every other August, coordinating with Assumption Day. Nearly a million flowers are required to create the ephemeral 1,800 m2 (19,000 sq ft) carpet
The first Flower Carpet was created in 1971 by the Ghent landscape architect Etienne Stautemans in an effort to advertise his work, and due to its popularity, the tradition continued in subsequent years.
The tapestry always exhibits tuberous begonias (Begonia tuberosa grandiflora), one of Belgium's major exports since 1860, and occasionally dahlias. More than a hundred volunteers are needed to set up, on a life-size drawing of the transparent and micro-perforated plastic mat, the decoration of grasses and bark where the flowers will be placed, produced on special order by horticulturists in the Ghent region in East Flanders.
Uploaded
March 30th, 2023
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