Brussels highlighted Aug. 16 its sun-splashed summer with a Mexican-themed carpet of over half a million flowers on its historic Grand-Place.
The UNESCO World Heritage site on Aug. 16 opened up the cobblestones of its market square for a giant display of flowers depicting scenes and symbols from the Guanajuato, a Mexican region with an exceptionally rich culture and flower tradition.
The city lays down such a flower carpet every two years but the extreme heat of this summer posed special challenges.
Brussels Culture alderwoman Karine Lalieux says that beyond the traditional use of Belgian begonias, dahlias also were used “as this year was very, very hot.”
“These are Belgian flowers, we are working with Belgian flower producers, from Flanders, who are growing begonias, and as this year was very very hot, we also have dahlias, and sometimes if needed, they can have the help of some neighboring countries such as the Netherlands to fill the gaps but they are mainly Belgian flowers,” said Karine.
The flower carpet can be admired until Sunday.
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