GETTY The Human Tower Competition is held once every two years

FREE now and never miss the top Royal stories again. SUBSCRIBE Invalid email Sign up fornow and never miss the top Royal stories again. We will use your email address only for sending you newsletters. Please see our Privacy Notice for details of your data protection rights.

The Human Tower Competition takes place every two years in Spain’s Catalonia. This weekend’s 26th event drew more than 200,000 spectators to the north-east region of Tarragona. Crowds watched on as some 42 teams, made up of up to 500 people, built human towers called ‘castells’. Participants all wore different colours, providing a dizzying sight.

GETTY The event was held at Tarragona in Spain's Catalonia region

The competition aim is to build the strongest, tallest and most complex tower of people. Men, women and children can all compete in the rare event, which dates back to the 18th century. It’s believed to have originated from dance groups performing the ritual as part of Catalan culture. For the first time, a foreign team competed at the Human Tower event this year.

GETTY Human towers or 'castells' date back to the 18th century

Catalonia's Human Castles in pictures Wed, July 5, 2017 The 'Castellers' who build the human towers with precise techniques compete in groups, know as 'colles', at local festivals with aim to build the highest and most complex human tower. The Catalan tradition is believed to have originated from human towers built at the end of the 18th century by dance groups and is part of the Catalan culture. Play slideshow Getty Images 1 of 12 Members of the colla 'Xiquets de Hanghzou' celebrate after building a human tower during the 26th Tarragona Competition on October 1, 2016 in Tarragona, Spain.

A team known as ‘Els Xiquets de Hangzhou’ from China managed to come second place on Saturday. They received a standing ovation for their incredible nine-level assembly with three people on each floor. It fell just short of the highest castell record, which stands at ten floors high and three people on each level. The overall winners this year were a team called ‘Castellers de Villafranca’.

GETTY A Chinese team involved this year were the first foreign group to participate in history