BRUSSELS
The 22nd edition of the Carpet of Flowers in the center of the Belgian capital opened its doors on Friday in the precautions for the heat wave.
Following the 50-year tradition, a 70-by-24-meter carpet of flowers is located on the Grand Place, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, from August 12 to 15.
The festival, which takes place every two years, marks the 50th anniversary of the event by reinventing the first carpet of flowers, called Arabesque, which was created by Flemish landscape engineer and politician Etienne Stautemas in 1971.
“This is a throwback of the Flower Carpet as it is possible that we will organise it in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic,” Delphine Houba, Brussels’ deputy mayor for culture and primary events, told Anadolu Agency.
Hundreds of volunteers paint the carpet with tons of flowers first thing in the morning “to make it the ultimate carpet in Europe’s capital,” he said.
Heat wave hits Belgium
After the pandemic, the Carpet of Flowers now faces a challenge: excessive heat.
Belgium is experiencing one of the driest summers in its history, with temperatures topping 30 degrees Celsius (86 degrees Fahrenheit) this week.
Karl and Emine, visitors from Belgium and Armenia, also noted that building a carpet of flowers in this “warm climate we don’t have” in that country required more effort.
But they are very inspired by the result.
“This is the first time for me, wow,” Emine said.
To keep the effects as in the first, the designers had to adapt.
“We’ve moved to more heat-resistant dahlias and more painted woods,” says Annette Katz, who has contributed to Flower Carpet since 1977 and led the organizing NGO from 1991 to 2017.
In addition to adjustments to the design of the flowers, the hosts also prepared a water fountain and installed a line of umbrellas to queue.
However, the carpet of flowers has already survived a heat wave in the country known for its temperate oceanic climate.
“We experienced a five-day heat wave in 2012 when we had the Africa design. In the end, everything dried up, as if we were in the African savannah,” Katz joked.
Conceive
Sabine, who came here to see the Carpet of Flowers with her husband and two children from Germany, also loves the show.
“It’s beautiful,” he says, pointing to “the hard paints that were needed to build such a large carpet. “
The 2022 design is ready through Mexican artist Roo Aguilar Aguado and Belgian Koen Vondenbusch, who is the festival’s technical director and has contributed to the Carpet of Flowers for over 28 years.
The two designers spent more than 280 hours rebuilding the first Flower Carpet from the original drawings and photographs of Stautemas’ creation in 1971.
“Most of them come from Belgium or neighboring countries,” Katz said.
As culture dictates, dahlias and begonias are at the center of the ornament that is completed this year with potted chrysanthemums and spindles from Japan.
The Arabesque design, on rhythmic linear patterns of rolled and intertwined leaves, bows or forged lines, is made with the symbol of the Flemish region of the country, the Lion and the Patron Saint of Brussels Miguel Arcángel.
history of the party
The idea for the festival came to the Brussels city government when they saw a carpet of flowers in the Flemish town of Audenarde in 1970.
The first carpet of flowers was laid the following year thanks to the cooperation between the Brussels traders’ agreement and flemish plant producers.
Stautemas, the president of the latter organization, designed the first and subsequent carpets until 1998, employing in one way or another the arabesque motif.
Throughout its history, the festival has featured, among other things, the design of Turkish and Chinese carpets and French gardens, and has also paid tribute to Brussels lace, music composer Mozart and Belgian-Japanese friendship.