A Barcelona opera has given its first concert since mid-March to an audience of potted plants.
The Gran Teatre del Liceu opened on Monday for a performance by the UceLi Quartet, as a prelude to its 2020-2021 season.
A string quartet played Giacomo Puccini's "Crisantemi" to 2,292 plants, in a performance that was also livestreamed to human listeners.
The concert, which took place a day after Spain lifted its three-month state of emergency, was planned by Spanish conceptual artist Eugenio Ampudia.
Barcelona opera reopens with performance for 3,000 pot plants
Mr Ampudia said he was inspired by the connection he had developed with nature during the coronavirus pandemic.
"I watched what was going on with nature during all this time," he said. "I heard many more birds singing. And the plants in my garden and outside growing faster.
"And, without a doubt, I thought that maybe I could now relate in a much more intimate way with people and nature."
The plants were donated from local nurseries, and will now be given to 2,292 healthcare professionals from the Hospital Clínic of Barcelona.
The event's organisers wrote that they wanted to celebrate the endeavours of healthcare workers serving "on the toughest front in a battle unprecedented for our generations."
Spain ended its state of emergency on Sunday, after gradually relaxing its lockdown rules over the past month. The country's phased-in reopening plan now permits venues such as theatres and cinemas to operate, with limits on capacity to prevent Covid-19 spreading.
The Liceu says on its website: "After a strange, painful period, the creator, the Liceu's artistic director and the curator Blanca de la Torre offer us a different perspective for our return to activity, a perspective that brings us closer to something as essential as our relationship with nature."
The Liceu's website says the company "welcomes" the lockdown lifting, and "leads a highly symbolic act that defends the value of art, music and nature as a letter of introduction to our return to activity".
