Gallery: Spain's bizarre annual fire festival
The citizens of Valencia painstakingly create sculptures year round, then burn them all up in a blaze of city fires
We can't decide if this is artsy, meta or just plain mad.
Every year, the Spanish city of Valencia (population 809,000) shuts down and sets its streets ablaze for its annual fire festival heralding the advent of spring.
Citizens and artists work year round on designing, constructing and painting fallas, gigantic cardboard monuments made up of caricature figures, and then burn them up in a spectacular climactic blaze.
Some 700 streets are closed to make way for revelers and firemen.
The festival begins March 15 and culminates with the city-wide fires on March 19. For more information, check out our gallery and www.fallasfromvalencia.com.
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