A 'carpet' made of 15,000 red tulips will appear in front of Romania’s Central Bank building in Bucharest Old Town this weekend. The event marks the start of the ‘Garden of hopes’ information campaign, dedicated to the fight against Parkinson’s disease.

The 50 sqm carpet will be placed in the Lipscani - Smardan pedestrian area in front of the National Bank building, reports local Agerpres. It will stay there until Sunday, April 5.

Over 72,000 Romanians suffer from Parkinson’s disease, this being the second degenerative neurological disorder nationwide. The campaign is organized by the Association for the Fight against Parkinson's Disease, in partnership with the Romanian Society of Neurology.

The red tulip is is official symbol of the fight against Parkinson’s disease. In 1980, J.W.S. Van der Wereld, a Dutch horticulturalist, with Parkinson's disease (PD), developed a red and white tulip, which he named the 'Dr. James Parkinson' tulip. The new flower honored Dr. James Parkinson, an English apothecary surgeon who originally described PD in 1812.

The red tulip became the official worldwide symbol of Parkinson's disease  in 2005.

Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.com

(photo source: freeimages.com)