In Brussels, the capital of Belgium, a huge flower carpet is made every two years by laying flowers all over the place to create a pattern. Since it is held in the Grand Place, a registered World Heritage Site, many tourists come to see the flower carpet every time. By chance, I had a special seat to watch the process from its creation to completion, so I would like to tell you about it.
What is a Flower Carpet?
First, let me introduce you to the event.
The Brussels Flower Carpet will take place as follows:
Date and time: 3 – 4 days during the week of August 15th in even-numbered years
Location: Grand Place in Brussels
Fee: Free
As you can see in the picture, the purpose of this event is to cover the square with flowers to create a pattern. Since it is held in even years, the last time it was held was in 2024. Therefore, the next one will be in August 2026.
Its history dates back to 1971, when a Brussels city council member saw flower carpets in other cities the previous year and decided to incorporate them. In 1986, the irregular dates were decided as above. What is drawn on the flower carpet is different every time, and in 2018, when I visited, it was in the Mexican city of Guanajuato.
What is Grand Place?
Grand Place is the largest square in the center of Brussels and is registered as a World Heritage Site. It is surrounded on all sides by the city hall, guild houses, museums, etc., and each building is beautiful. It is located just past the station and into the center of the city, so it is the first place to stop by when sightseeing in Brussels.
For more information on sightseeing in Brussels, please click here.
What is the Special Seat in the Title?
In 2018, I stayed in Brussels to see this flower carpet, and I stayed at a hotel inside the Grand Place. Actually, a friend of mine had originally booked a room, but was unable to go due to poor health, so he gave it up to me, since he had paid in advance and couldn’t cancel. I went there without knowing what kind of place it was, but I was surprised when I got there!! I could see the whole Grand Place from the window.
From here you can enjoy the view of the flower carpet from the comfort of your room.
How a Flower Carpet is Made
The Flower Carpet is huge, 75m long, 24m wide, and has a total area of 1,800㎡, so I thought it would take days to cover it with flowers, but that was not the case. From here, let’s take a look at the progress day by day until completion.
August 14th
I arrived in Brussels on this day. At this stage there were no flowers yet, just the outline.
August 15th
On this day, I went on a day trip to Liège.
Click here to see sightseeing spots.
Here is what the evening looked like when we returned from Liège.
There was more plastic laid down than the day before, but still no flowers. It was already the 15th, so I started to worry. Will they make it in time?
August 16th
I woke up around 8 am and looked out the window and this is what it looked like.
There was nothing there until last night, but it’s already about half full. Apparently they plant 300 flowers per square meter, and I was surprised at what time they started. On this day, I went on a day trip to Antwerp.
For tourist information, please see here.
When I returned in the evening it was already finished.
Judging from the pace, it looks like it would have been finished by the afternoon.
The opening ceremony was held at 10pm that night. During the night when the Flower Carpet is open to the public, sound and light shows are held many times, but fireworks were only set off during the opening ceremony.
The fireworks were so intense that I’m not sure how the sound and light effects were, but it was a great memory. In addition, Mexican artists were playing traditional music live for the night.
August 17th
The flower carpet has already been completed, and there are no special effects during the day, so you can just look at it freely. This time, I was lucky enough to get a special seat, but does that mean that people who don’t have lodgings can’t see it from above? In fact, you can see it by going to the balcony of the city hall. During this event, you can actually go to the balcony of the city hall if you pay the entrance fee. So, since I was there, I decided to go to the city hall as well.
The tallest tower in the city is the city hall. I saw people on the balcony from my room, so I went there and there was quite a queue. You can make a reservation in advance from their website, so I recommend you to make a reservation there.
Flower Carpet Official Website
https://www.flowercarpet.brussels/en
The cost was 7 euros per person.
The journey to the balcony was long and we had to wait for over an hour, but it was nice to get a glimpse of the inside of the city hall, which is not normally open to the public.
And here is the view from the balcony.
I recommend this place because you can see it from the front. Since I was there, I went to see the sound and light performance before heading home.
This is not all there is to Flower Carpets
The main flower carpet is at the Grand Place, but you can actually see small carpets at another venue. Here you can see works from all over the world. The location is the square in front of the stock exchange near Grand Place.
In addition, panels of past flower carpets were displayed in Galeries Royales Saint-Hubert, an arcade street just next to the Grand Place.
Summary
That’s the flower carpet in Brussels. I was surprised that they could complete such a huge thing in such a short time. It was wonderful to feel Mexico with the beautiful designs, and the sound and light performance was also wonderful. I was very lucky to be able to see it from a special seat, and it became the best memory of this summer. It only happens once every two years, so if you go, make sure you prepare well in advance.
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