The Flower Carpet (french: Tapis de Fleurs, nl, Bloementapijt) is a biennial event in

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

in which volunteers from around

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

convene at the Grand-Place/Grote Markt, the historic centre of the city, to weave a carpet-like tapestry out of colourful

begonia ''Begonia'' is a genus of perennial flowering plants in the family Begoniaceae. The genus contains more than 2,000 different plant species. The Begonias are native to moist subtropical and tropical climates. Some species are commonly grown ind ...

s. The event takes place every other August, coordinating with

Assumption Day The Assumption of Mary is one of the four Marian dogmas of the Catholic Church. Pope Pius XII defined it in 1950 in his apostolic constitution ''Munificentissimus Deus'' as follows: We proclaim and define it to be a dogma revealed by Go ...

. Nearly a million flowers are required to create the ephemeral carpet.

History

The first Flower Carpet was created in 1971 by the

Ghent Ghent ( nl, Gent ; french: Gand ; traditional English: Gaunt) is a city and a municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of the East Flanders province, and the third largest in the country, exceeded in ...

landscape architect A landscape architect is a person who is educated in the field of landscape architecture. The practice of landscape architecture includes: site analysis, site inventory, site planning, land planning, planting design, grading, storm water manageme ...

Etienne Stautemans in an effort to advertise his work, and due to its popularity, the tradition continued in subsequent years. The ''Tapis de Fleurs de Bruxelles'' Association was then created at the initiative of the

City of Brussels The City of Brussels (french: Ville de Bruxelles or alternatively ''Bruxelles-Ville'' ; nl, Stad Brussel or ''Brussel-Stad'') is the largest municipality and historical City centre, centre of the Brussels, Brussels-Capital Region, as well a ...

in cooperation with the

Province of Brabant The Province of Brabant (, , ) was a province in Belgium from 1830 to 1995. It was created in 1815 as South Brabant, part of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands. In 1995, it was split into the Dutch-speaking Flemish Brabant, the French-speak ...

and ''Les Franc-Bourgeois'' (a central Brussels traders’ association). The new association laid down the regulations; the event was to be held every two years, for three to four days on the weekend of 15 August and could be enhanced by sound and lighting, fireworks, a jazz concert and other traditional folk entertainments. Starting in 1986, the event has been regularly held biannually, each time under a different theme, with the Flower Carpet now attracting a large number of local and international visitors.

Description

The tapestry always exhibits tuberous

s (''Begonia tuberosa grandiflora''), one of Belgium's major exports since 1860, and occasionally

dahlia Dahlia (, ) is a genus of bushy, tuberous, herbaceous perennial plants native to Mexico and Central America. A member of the Asteraceae (former name: Compositae) family of dicotyledonous plants, its garden relatives thus include the sunflower, ...

s. 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

region in

East Flanders , native_name_lang = , settlement_type = Province of Belgium , image_flag = Flag of Oost-Vlaanderen.svg , flag_size = , image_shield = Wapen van O ...

Themes

Each year of the Flower Carpet, organisers select a theme for inspiration. * In 2008, the patterns were inspired by 18th-century French designs and colours. * In 2010, the carpet honoured Belgian

Herman Van Rompuy Herman Achille, Count Van Rompuy (; born 31 October 1947) is a Belgian politician, who served as the prime minister of Belgium from 2008 to 2009 and then as the first permanent president of the European Council from 2009 to 2014. A politicia ...

, the first

President of the European Union The official title President of the European Union (or President of Europe) does not exist, but there are a number of presidents of European Union institutions, including: * the President of the European Council (since 1 December 2019, Charle ...

, with images of historic Belgian symbols alongside the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...

logo. * In 2012, the carpet exhibited the colours of Africa, inspired by traditional fabrics and tribal costumes. * In 2014, the carpet paid tribute to the 50th anniversary of Turkish immigrants by imitating the world-famous

kilim A kilim ( az, Kilim کیلیم; tr, Kilim; tm, Kilim; fa, گلیم ''Gilīm'') is a flat tapestry-woven carpet or rug traditionally produced in countries of the former Persian Empire, including Iran, the Balkans and the Turkic countries. Kili ...

s."Brussels Flower Carpet 2014 commemorates Turkish immigration in Belgium." ''Xinhua News Agency'' 14 Aug. 2014. ''Infotrac Newsstand''. Web. 6 Feb. 2016. Turks came to Belgium in 1964 when both countries signed a bilateral treaty welcoming immigrants during the economic boom. * In 2016, the carpet displayed a Japanese design to celebrate 150 years of friendship between Belgium and Japan. * In 2018, the carpet featured cultural elements from the state of

Guanajuato Guanajuato (), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Guanajuato ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Guanajuato), is one of the 32 states that make up the Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into 46 municipalities and its capital city i ...

, Mexico, including symbolism from the

Chupícuaro Chupícuaro is an important prehispanic archeological site from the late preclassical or formative period. The culture that takes its name from the site dates to 400 BC to 200 AD, or alternatively 500 BC to 300 AD., although some academics sug ...

, Otomí and

Purépecha The Purépecha (endonym pua, P'urhepecha ) are a group of indigenous people centered in the northwestern region of Michoacán, Mexico, mainly in the area of the cities of Cherán and Pátzcuaro. They are also known by the pejorative "Tarascan ...

cultures. In addition to the begonias, the carpet included

s, the national flower of Mexico. * In 2020, the event was cancelled due to the

COVID-19 pandemic in Belgium The COVID-19 pandemic in Belgium has resulted in confirmed cases of COVID-19 and deaths. The virus was confirmed to have spread to Belgium on 4 February 2020, when one of a group of nine Belgians repatriated from Wuhan to Brussels was repor ...

. * In 2022, to mark the event's 50th anniversary and 22nd edition, the pattern was a nod to the first design from 1971. All the elements of this first design were present, including

Saint Michael Michael (; he, מִיכָאֵל, lit=Who is like El od, translit=Mīḵāʾēl; el, Μιχαήλ, translit=Mikhaḗl; la, Michahel; ar, ميخائيل ، مِيكَالَ ، ميكائيل, translit=Mīkāʾīl, Mīkāl, Mīkhāʾīl), also ...

and the

Leo Belgicus The Leo Belgicus (Latin for ''wikt:Belgic, Belgic Lion'') was used in both heraldry and map design to symbolize the former Low Countries (current day Netherlands, Luxembourg, Belgium and a small part of northern France) with the shape of a lion. W ...

Gallery

2016

2018

References

Notes