Photo Gallery Setting Valencia Ablaze
The annual Fallas festival is taking place this week in Valencia, on the Spanish coast. During the street parties and parades, giant satirical sculptures are exhibited, judged in a competition and then ceremoniously burnt. This sculpture, "The Kiss," is said to be the biggest and most expensive of the 2010 festival. It cost around 600,000 ($821,000) to build and is 22 meters (72 feet) high.
The sculptures often have a satirical message. Here US President Barack Obama is depicted as Superman being embraced by his wife Michelle.
Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi is also the target for jokes this year. This sculpture shows him in a hot tub with two lady friends, one of whom is taking a picture of the event.
In this humorous sculpture, which is part of "The Kiss," French President Nicolas Sarkozy has to stand on a stool -- and a model of the Eiffel Tower -- so that his model wife Carla Bruni-Sarkozy can kiss him.
A painter works on the Sarkozy sculpture, prior to its unveiling. The sculptures are mostly made of papier-mache on a wooden frame, which is sanded into shape, then painted.
Last year Obama was the subject of similar jokes: This sculpture from the 2009 festival depicts a variety of European leaders wanting to marry him. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown appears to have made it to the front of the line of suitors, while German Chancellor Angela Merkel bides her time, drinking a beer.
It is not just politicians getting a ribbing in Valencia this year. This sculpture is of handsome Portuguese soccer player Cristiano Ronaldo, who wears Real Madrid's jersey with the word "wapin" (good-looking) written on it.
Spanish tennis player Rafa Nadal (left) and Swiss tennis champion Roger Federer mean business in Valencia this year.
A painter works on the gigantic sculpture "The Kiss" in Valencia. Some of the statues take six months to complete. They are made by artists hired especially for the job, who work in what is now a multi-million dollar business.
The final touches are put on "The Kiss." This falla is built by the neighborhood of Nou Campanar. The district has won the contest for the past three years -- despite accusations that they are commercialising the festival and ruining its spirit. The district spends a large amount of money on their sculptures and in 2006, they erected the largest one ever made, at around 28 meters high.
Some sculptures also satirize local politicians, celebrities and current affairs. In the past, even the festival has been satirized, with one sculpture, made out of 50-meter-long sticks, making a joke out of all the "biggest ever" sculptures that were being constructed.
But of course, not everyone is making jokes. This giant sculpture of former silent movie star Charlie Chaplin is under wraps until the competition gets started.
The festival peaks on March 19 with the announcement of the contest winners, and then, at midnight, the burning of the sculptures at various points around the city. The statues have been specially constructed to collapse vertically when they are ablaze. This photo shows fireworks at the 2008 festival.
The statues are not the only draw. During the festival there are all sorts of events, from parades in traditional costumes, the election of the female mayor of the festival and processions to offer flowers to religious icons, as well as traditional bullfights.
Las Fallas is not the only festival that Valencia is known for. Every summer, in the small town of Bunol near Valencia, there is also the annual Tomatina, a tomato fight fiesta.
