Brussels Flower Carpet 2026 — Hokusai's Great Wave
Thu 13 Aug – Sun 16 Aug · Grand-Place, 1000 Brussels · Brussels
Details & booking — City of Brussels (official)
via City of Brussels (official) · Checked 20 Jul 2026
About this event
Every second summer around 120 volunteers lay close to a million flowers across the Grand-Place in under four hours. The 2026 carpet marks 160 years of Belgian-Japanese relations with Hokusai's Great Wave off Kanagawa reworked in over 500,000 dahlias by artist Hiro Sugiyama and his Enlightenment collective, lit each evening by a half-hourly sound-and-light show.
Why we picked it
Brussels' most photographed free spectacle, biennial rather than annual, and the strongest mid-August anchor for the city.
Free entry
Walking the perimeter of the Grand-Place and viewing the carpet at ground level is free for everyone. The elevated view from the City Hall balcony is ticketed and paid.
Registration
Registration needed
None for street-level viewing; the paid City Hall balcony view is booked separately
A third-party event from official public listings, checked by Glentio. Programmes can change — confirm on the organiser's site.
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