Brussels' giant flower carpet made of 600,000 begonias to open in August

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Brussels' giant flower carpet made of 600,000 begonias to open in August

By Annie Dang
The biennial Flower Carpet festival  in Brussels' city square.

The biennial Flower Carpet festival in Brussels' city square.Credit: iStock

A giant carpet made up of flowers will take over Brussels' main square later this month to mark the 20th anniversary of the biennial Flower Carpet event, which was launched in 1971.

The 76-metre long (approximately 300-square-metre) carpet, made of up to 600,000 begonias will be rolled out with a Japanese-inspired design that will cover La Grand-Place (The Grand-Place) and Brussels' central square.

Every two years a different design is chosen with the official choice often paying tribute to Belgian's history of international relations. This year's design was chosen to mark 150 years of Belgo-Japanese diplomatic relations.

The official design has yet to be released but event organisers say the carpet will showcase flowers, birds, and nature symbolic of Japan.

The carpet will be created and assembled on to the city's pavements by hand by more than 100 volunteers. It's estimated the process will take less than four hours to complete.

To see the giant flower carpet visitors are required to buy tickets which are only available for purchase on location, on the day they plan to visit.

Visitors will get the chance to see the city's 'jewel of Gothic architecture' from the main square while inhaling the fragrance of begonias. Head to the balcony of the Town Hall for a wide-angle view of the flower carpet.

Begonias are exotic, drought-tolerant plants which hail from topical and subtropical regions. The flowers have their own festival in Australia, the Ballarat Begonia Festival, held in March.

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More information

Open from 12-15 August, 10am to 10pm on the Brussels Grand Place.

Tickets are only available for purchased on location, on the day. Costs €5 ($A7.50) per person with free admission for kids under 10.

See visit.brussels/en/event/Flower-Carpet

See also: One day three ways: Brussels

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