The wet dream of a hippie decorator… or a feat of one of the most beautiful traditions of Catalonia: the floral carpets. L’Illa Diagonal hosts these days Floreix l’Illa, an exhibition of floral carpets that will allow to see one of the largest floral carpets that can be seen this year in the city.
It is a carpet of flowers with more than 50 m2 that can be seen until March 25. It is just one of those that will be seen in the sample, for which have been used, in total, about 11,000 flowers of 35 colors and 15 different textures.
This exhibition has been designed as a collaborative project, in which different associations and entities dedicated to the tradition of floral carpets have participated. Organized with the support of the Catalan Federation of Catifes and the International Coordination of Catifes d’Art Efímer, the initiative has brought together 20 specialists from associations such as Acció Cívica Calderina, Amics de les Alfombres de Bellvei, Catifes d’Arbúcies, Catifaires Dalt la Vila de Badalona, Cultural Corpus la Garriga, Cultura i Tradició de Ripollet, La Bota de Calafell and Catifaires del Casal de Mollet del Vallès.
Why floral carpets are built in Catalonia.
The Catalan petal carpets are a deep-rooted tradition to which this exhibition wants to pay tribute. Normally these floral carpets are exhibited in streets and squares on the occasion of festivities such as Corpus Christi, and this is one of the first times that is presented in an enclosed space, allowing visitors to admire these designs up close and without the limitations of the weather and the rains of these days.
For more than 700 years, during the Corpus Christi, the streets of Barcelona are filled with traditions such as floral carpets, which accompanied by l’ou com balla or the parades of giants, draw the postcard of the most traditional Barcelona during these days.
We have explained these traditions in our articles, so we invite you to read them when you go to the Illa to understand the importance of this tradition in the city.