Locals work on placing roses on a structure made to resemble the Cochasqui pyramid temple as they try to impose a new category in the Guinness World Records as the biggest structure made with roses, in Tabacundo, Ecuador, Friday, July 20, 2018. Hundreds of volunteers helped and they will find out on Saturday if they have succeeded in achieving the record. (AP Photo/Dolores Ochoa)
TABACUNDO, Ecuador — The people in this small Andean town are the proud creators of the biggest floral structure ever built — a life-size replica of an indigenous pyramid made from 546,364 roses.
A judge for Guinness World Records took nearly all day Saturday to confirm that Tabacundo had achieved the record.
The blazing red pyramid rises in the town square. Nearly all the flowers are red roses, with 6 percent white, pink and yellow to provide white borders and a dazzling sun.
It took a week to erect, with about 1,500 people pitching in by working an average of 16 hours a day.
One of the organizers, Rosa Cisneros, says the town wanted “to show the world where the most beautiful roses on Earth come from.” /cbb
Volunteers, including a Catholic nun, pitch in to build a pyramid made of roses. AP
Locals carry a box of roses to be placed on the pyramid. AP
Locals prepare thousands of roses that will be placed on a structure made to resemble the Cochasqui pyramid temple. AP