Episode 25 - How the First Balloon Flights Inspired the Paris Olympic Vasque

When the giant silver Olympic balloon rose above the Jardin des Tuileries during the Paris 2024 Games, it instantly became one of the city's most unforgettable sights. But in Paris, almost nothing exists without a connection to the past.

In this episode, we uncover the remarkable history behind the Olympic cauldron and why a balloon was the perfect symbol. From the daring experiments of the Montgolfier brothers and the world's first animal and human flights to the hydrogen balloon that lifted from the Tuileries before a crowd of hundreds of thousands, the story stretches back more than two centuries.

We'll also explore how the balloon fits into the historic heart of Paris, standing along the city's famous Axe Historique, where every monument tells part of France's story. Discover how the 2024 Olympic organizers blended cutting-edge design with one of the greatest chapters in the history of aviation, proving once again that in Paris, the past is never far from the present.

Transcript

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Bonjour, bonjour, and welcome to episode 24 of Paris in Blue Blanc Rouge with Claudine Hemingway. That's me. It is Tuesday, June 30th, and we have survived our heat wave that we had in Paris last week. Lasted for about 10 days. You had to be, I think, living under a rock to not have heard about it at this point. It was excruciating to say the least. It was extremely, extremely hot. And they say we might have another one coming here in a couple weeks, but let's cross our fingers that it's not as quite as bad as that one was. But it was, it was difficult. It was very, very difficult. And now that it is ended, we're still hoping that all of our apartments start to get rid of all of that heat. That's the problem in Paris is everything, you have so much stone, it kind of seeps in and sticks. And it takes, they said, four to five days for it to finally kind of get out. So I think that once we get out, once we get rid of this heat that's trapped, it's going to get warm again. But this morning was in the high 50s, and I was extremely happy. Went out for a long walk to go and check out exactly what we're going to talk about today. So in this episode, I wanted to share with you something that's in Paris and it's temporarily here. And it is, but it's temporarily here for a few years. So every summer, this is go this is comes out until next summer. Next summer will be the last one. And then after that, who knows? But I have a feeling they'll probably find some way to bring it back. But I will share all of that with you. So it's hard to say these days that anything can really impress people. The attention span is so short that companies, restaurants, and museums all want that viral moment that spreads within hours, but then it's just forgotten. Paris is a bit different. Are there endlessly influencers telling you a cafe covered with fake flowers is the one to go to or to just take a photo of? Of course. However, there is an entirely different side of Paris, one that is tied to its deep history, running through the streets like an ancient vein of cobblestone. The French love their history and their heritage. Each September, one weekend is dedicated to the many historic buildings that opened just for two days. So when something new appears in Paris, it's first met with a whole bunch of distrust and even hatred. But if you tie it to a historical moment or idea, you have a good chance the skeptical Parisians will like it or eventually come around to saying it's at least okay. For the 2024 Paris Olympics, organizers had a lot of work ahead of them and of course very lofty goals, starting with the opening ceremonies. We aren't going to get into the entire opening ceremonies or the ridiculous opinions that came from it, but there was one moment at the very end that did what few things can capture attention and keep it returning to each year. With each Olympics, every host city wants to do its best at showcasing how unique and beautiful the city is. Sadly, for anyone who comes after the Paris Summer Games, you're just gonna be out of luck. It'll be hard to top Paris' venues and skylines. The Chateau de Versailles is the background for the equestrian competition. Even swimming in the Seine was pretty magical with the Eiffel Tower above. A few months before the opening ceremonies, we heard that the Olympic cauldron would be placed in the Jardin des Tuileries. And one day a silver balloon appeared. We didn't know how it would all tie together until we learned at the same time as the rest of the world that the cauldron was lit and lifted from the center of the basin and up into the air. During the Olympics and the Paralympics, each night after the sunset, the balloon would rise into the air. During the day, the lucky few who were able to grab tickets fast enough got close to it, but it was still just as easy to see it from anywhere in the garden, the surrounding streets, and even the terrace of the Louvre. The balloon was seen as a huge success that it would be brought back each year until the 2028 Summer Olympics in LA. Lucky for those in Paris for the next few months you could once again see the large silver balloon of cauldron rise from its base each night, and each day you could walk around the base without a ticket. What was its amazing sorcery and how was the flame not setting the helium-filled balloon on fire? And furthermore, why a balloon? French designer Matthew Le Henaire designed the torch that carried the flame from Greece through nearly every corner of France and even to French territories in the middle of the ocean and ended in Paris on July 26, 2024. The 51-year-old designer opened his own atelier in 2001 and has added his creations to museums, including lighting in the Cafe Moulin in the Louvre, but since been removed. His contemporary lighting of furniture with rounded corners gives each piece a very playful quality. Leonard designed a large helium balloon at over 75 feet in diameter with a very special nod to history, which sits above a 23 foot diameter ring of fire. However, it wasn't the actual flame that encircles the ring and couldn't be each year after the Olympics had concluded. It was created by EDF, the French Energy Company, and consists of LED light beams and a water mist, making 100% renewable with no environmental impact. Pretty cool, huh? Why a balloon, you ask? Well, this is Paris, and nothing happens by chance. The heritage is taken very seriously here, and the balloon does a nod to an event that happened on December 1st, 1793, in this very spot. But first, we need to talk about the first balloon launch that took place in front of Marie Antoinette herself. Picture this. Louis XVI had heard about this new invention that could rise from the earth and into the sky and had to see this for himself. The Montgolfier brothers were born into a large family of sixteen kids. Their father headed up a paper and stationery company that had been in the family since the fourteenth century. With a bevy of siblings, Etienne and Joseph headed off to Paris to follow their own passions. Etienne studied architecture and called Jacques Germain Soufflot, the architect of the Pantheon, a mentor. Joseph was interested in chemistry and set up a lab in Paris until 1772 when their brother Raymond died, and the siblings were all called home to work in the family business. In 1782, the brothers, combining all their interests and a moment of good fortune, created the first hot air balloon. One day, Joseph had tossed a piece of paper into the fire and watched it lift into the air above the flames. This led Joseph to create a cube frame covered in silk, place it in the fireplace, and watched it rise up from his chimney. Eureka. By the end of the year, the two brothers had put their heads together, and by December 1782, the first steps towards flight had begun. Various fabrics from silk to wool and paper combined with every kind of fire fueled by manure, leather, or even raw meat. On April 25th, 1783, they hit the jackpot. A 105 cubic foot balloon constructed of canvas and strengthened with paper from the family Biz, weighing just over 500 pounds, lifts into the air and travels 1,300 feet, much to the amazement of the small crowd below. Night and day they worked to perfect their design, and on June 4th, 1783, a bigger balloon was flown and stayed aloft for 10 minutes, traveling a mile and a half. Word spread quickly throughout the scientific community and reached Versailles and the attention of the king himself. Louis XVI may have been the one man in the royal lineage who never wanted to take the throne. Louis was happy as taking clocks apart, looking at large maps, plotting navigational routes, and playing with locks and keys. He was a bit of a nerd, and I mean that as a compliment. When word reached Louis of this amazing feat of flying, he needed to see it for himself. Much to the delight of the Montgolfier brothers who needed funding to take their project even higher, no pun intended, the two were invited to Versailles to present the flying balloon to the king himself. Of course, the brothers decided they needed to create a new larger balloon. With this, the shape of the hot air balloon we know today was created. The brothers called upon their friend Jean-Baptiste Ravillon, the owner of the Royal Manufacturer of Wallpaper, to assist in creating the new larger balloon. Over 1,000 cubic meters, it was tested on September 11th, a week before the date with the king. It was a success, but not so fast. The rain had other ideas. Much like the same thing that happened 243 years later on the Pont Neuve to the JR structure, the wind and rain ripped apart the balloon. The day was set with the king for September 19th. A new balloon had to be created in less than a week. The previous one had taken two months. This was also the perfect time to go even bigger on the balloon at fourteen hundred cubic meters. The big day arrived. There in the courtyard at the Chateau de Versailles before Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette and a few thousand of their friends, the Montgolfier brothers, watched their balloon lift into history. On September 19, 1783, at 111 PM, with the precious cargo tied in a basket, the balloon lifted and traveled straight up 2,000 feet, and in eight minutes it traveled north three and a half kilometers to the Carefort de Maréchal in the nearby Bois de Vaucrisson. A rip in the balloon brought the trio down and to the surprise of everyone, were completely unharmed for the most part. The world's first astronauts were given a hero's return to the chateau and placed in the Royal Menagerie where they lived out a very lavish life. Although some bystanders said the duck's beak was broken because the sheep sat on it. Physician Jean-Francois Pilatre de Rosier was on hand that day and was the first to see the three thriving animals for himself. The next step was to fly a human, and the physician was the first to raise his hand. A larger balloon was designed, and this time they covered it with wallpaper decorated with the motifs fit for Versailles. On a blue background, gold intertwined L's, the cipher of the Bourbon Louis, as well as the symbols of the zodiac, eagles, and of course the son of Louis XIV. I have a photo of the lithograph on my website, ClaudineHemingway.com. The first test was held on October 15th, rising 85 feet and remaining aloft for over four minutes. On October 19th, on the Rue de Montreuil in the Folie Titon Park of the Ravillon Manufactory, the first human, Pilatre de Rosier, was launched 266 feet from the ground, this time tethered. Later that same day, Andre Giraud de Villette joined the good doctor and remained aloft for almost 10 minutes. After final approval from Louis XVI himself, the first non-tethered launch took place on November 21, 1783, from the Chateau de la Muette outside of Paris. The king wanted to use convicted criminals for the first flight in case it ended in death, but was convinced by his advisors that it would be safe. The balloon not only stayed in the air, but it also quietly traveled over the Jardin de Toileries and the city itself. Can you imagine the surprise people would have had below if they were unaware of the event? For five and a half miles across Paris, landing southeast of the center in the Butokoi. The Mongolfier brothers would cement their place in history and science so much so that the Mongolfier is the French word for hot air balloon. Joseph would live until 1810 and he was awarded the Legion of Honor by Napoleon and named to the Academy of Science. Sadly, Etienne died in 1799, but would have been given the same honors had he lived long enough. I wonder what those two fellows would think today. As for the first man to travel into the air, Jean Francois Pilatre de Rosier, he became obsessed. On june twenty third, seventeen eighty-four, Rosier returned to Versailles to fly in an even larger balloon christened La Marie Antoinette, alongside chemist Joseph Louis Proust and in front of Marie Antoinette, Louis XVI, and the guest King Gustavus III of Sweden. The two took to the sky. This time they reached beyond the clouds, 9,800 feet above the earth and disappeared from view. In less than an hour they traveled 32 miles before running out of fuel and dropping near the forest of Chantilly. Rosier's need for speed or height would be his undoing. He was bolstered by his successful launches, but he now wanted to cross the English Channel. On June 15, 1785, with physicist Pierre Ange Romain in a specially designed balloon that sat on a column to hold enough fuel for the crossing. Shortly after takeoff, strong winds blew them back over land and the balloon lost its air and crashed to the earth. The first man to travel into the air was also the first man to die in the pursuit of flight. While the Montgolfier brothers were presenting their creations before the king and queen of France, two other brothers were nipping at their heels. Physicist Jacques Charles created the first hydrogen-filled balloon, which is 14 times lighter than air. Working with the brothers Enjon and Nicolas Robert, a silk balloon coated in rubber was constructed in the Place des Victoires. On December 1st, 1783, from close to the very spot where we find the Olympic vest today, Jacques Charles and Nicolas Robert took off and floated 27 miles while more than 400,000 people watched, including Benjamin Franklin. The 2024 Olympics held in Paris did a beautiful job of melding the games with the city's backdrop and a heavy dose of history. In Paris, you were constantly rubbing shoulders with history, even if you aren't paying attention. Marble plaques attached to buildings share the story of past figures that lived there, or historic moment that occurred, or even mark the spot where someone died in the fight to free Paris during the liberation of 1944. Everything in Paris has a story. It's what gets me out of bed every morning, hours before the sun rises. I love to find those deep connections between what we see today and how it came to be. This is the same as what could be found in the story of the balloon in the Tuileries, but it doesn't end with the first balloon flight that occurred from and over the garden. It is also in the exact spot of where the balloon vast sits today. The balloon is situated over the round eastern basin of the Tuileries, which sits on the invisible line that runs through Paris, known as the Aix Historique. The Jardin de Tuileries was created under Catherine de Medici in the 16th century and attached to her palace, which once stood at the end of the Louvre. Garden architect Pierre Le Notre was tasked with designing a garden that would include a grotto, vegetables, and endless beds of flowers, all for her enjoyment. The garden would evolve in the 17th century under Louis XIV and Pierre's grandson, Andre Le Notre, who would add the quintessential French design of geometric lines. As the king liked to escape to the countryside, to his place of birth in Saint-Germain-en-Laye, he asked Le Notre to extend the view from the Palais de Louvre through the garden and to the top of the hill we know as the Champs-Élysées. While the access dates to the 17th century, it was in the 19th century that monuments were added along the line, linking history forever and finally anchored in 1989. Today, the access begins at the Musee de Louvre, off-center from the pyramid of Ian Pay. Listen to episode 16 for more about the pyramid. It's a statue originally designed by Bernini for Louis XIV and finished in 1684. Louis hated it and hid it in the farthest corner of Versailles until he had Francois Gerardin redesign the Sun King into a Roman hero. While I am Pey was finishing the pyramid in the Corps Napoleon, a copy of the redesigned statue was created in lead as the original was too fragile to move. Upon arrival, I am Pay placed it southwest of the pyramid, which may look a little bit odd until you realize it's the beginning of the access line. Louis XIV rides his trusty steed and looks as if he's ready to head out for the weekend to one of his many countryside estates. From this spot, on a clear day, or better yet, from the window of the former bedroom of Henry II on the first floor of the Louvre, look west to the outskirts of Paris. From Louis, we see the Arc de Trion de Carousel, commissioned by Napoleon and built in 1808. More on that one soon. The line runs through the central path of the Arks Garden and to the Olympic Balloon, cementing its place in history, even if only temporarily. Continuing through the Tuileries, the Place de la Concorde, and the 13th century Luxor Obelisk, a gift from Egypt to France in 1830 and erected in 1836. The golden triangle at the top of the obelisk is easy to spot over the trees of the garden from the inside the Louvre. Continuing down the Avenue de Champs-Élysées to the crowning monument of the Arc de Triomphe, the big brother of the carousel was imagined by Napoleon, but he never saw it completed. Finished by Louis Philippe in 1836, it is still dedicated to the glory of the great soldiers of France, many of whom given their lives for the country. From there, the line extends along Avenue Charles de Gaulle and ends outside of Paris in the business district of La Dunse. At the Arc of La Défense was inaugurated in 1989 and is so huge that Notre Dame could slide inside of it. As for the cauldron, it returned this summer and will return one more time in 2027. Maybe it will return in the future. It is a rather beloved addition to the Paris skyline. The Jardin de Toileries opens to the public each morning at 7 a.m. but it could easily be seen without even entering the garden. You can watch it rise again each night at sunset and it stays high above the city until 2 a.m. It rises 197 feet into the air until September 14th. If you're going to be in Paris, their hours are in the month of July until July 31st, the garden closes at 9 30 p.m. and the vasque rises at 10 30. In August, the garden will close at 8 30 and the vasque rises at 9 30. And from September 1st to the 14th, when it closes, the garden will close at 7.30 p.m. and the vasque rises at 8.30 p.m. Unfortunately, the vasque isn't designed for people or sheep, but you can travel by air and have a fantastic view of Paris just down the Seine. In the Parc Andre Citron in the 15th, near the Seine and not far past the Eiffel Tower, the Balloon Generale that offers tethered visits 150 meters up into the Parisian sky for 16 to 20 euros. I might have to go down there and check it out. It's a huge basket. I have a I'll put a link on my website. I mean, you could actually look in advance to make sure it's running that day. It's not something that is busy tourist attraction because it is kind of out of center, and I think a lot of people forget about it. But you do a lot of times we'll see if you're on the Eiffel Tower, you're like, hey, why is that balloon over there? But it is tethered, so you're not going to fly away. And it's again, it's pretty huge. But it, I need to go down there and and take a look at it. I did do a hot air balloon. I think I was like a teenager in Napa Valley with some family, and it was pretty amazing. You have to get up pretty early to go do it. But I just walked over to the Twileries this morning early. I was by there at about 7:15. The garden was open, and they say that you can't the area around the vask is not open, but there's a fence, but you could walk right up to the fence and you could see it. You could see the base of it completely undisturbed. Honestly, I've never been around it when it's actually open to the public because I like to go so early in the morning. But at night, it's pretty cool. And it will, I mean, hundreds and hundreds of people will stand there waiting for it to rise up. And it's like you could hear a pin drop. Like everybody is just silent when it rises up. It's pretty amazing. It is a really, really cool thing. So I imagine it will be something that is going to be extend past 2027, but it will be here again next year. So if you're planning to come to Paris, also come, you know, come next summer. And, you know, it's a kind of a secret. And people tell you not to come in August. But honestly, August is my favorite month aside from January, February, to be in Paris because it is, it just it empties out of the locals. And every single morning, I call it a month of Sundays because every single morning in Paris, it the streets and the neighborhoods are just like completely quiet until like 11, 11:30, and it's just glorious. I love it so much. Let's just hope it doesn't get super hot this year. But I did also an episode a couple weeks ago about Pont Neuf and also about the art installation by JR, and it just actually closed. This the last day to see it was on Sunday. And of course, that's the day I went to go see it because it was the first day we had a tiny bit of a cooler morning. And I either go see exhibits and everything literally right when they open, or I run out of time and have to race to see them on the last few days. But I did go see it and I went really early in the morning. I went about 6 30 in the morning because it was open 24 hours a day. And I put a video on my Instagram, Claudine Blue Blanc Rouge. And it's also on my Facebook Blue Blanc Rouge. So if you're on either one of those, check that out. But it was it was really interesting. It was really warm in there, so I cannot even imagine what it was like when it was uh 103 degrees here. But it was it was really interesting. It's supposed to have like music and stuff, but it also had like a Snapchat thing, and I don't have Snapchat, but you do hear kind of I left the I left the sound as it was. I didn't cover it with music on my Instagram, so you could kind of check it out for yourself. It was really interesting, and now it's June 30th, and Sunday the 28th was the last day. But I walked by this morning and it's still completely all set up. So it's gonna take a little bit of time to take it down, but I would imagine they'll start to deflate it pretty soon, and then it will the punt niff will open once again. But it was pretty cool. I thought I really liked it. A lot of people didn't. A lot of people let me know in my comments on my stuff that they didn't like it, and that's you know, say la vie as we say. But you know, it's temporary and it's gonna be gone pretty soon, and at least we got to see it. I would have loved to have seen Christo and Jean-Claude when they originally wrapped the Pont Neuf 40 years ago, I think it was. But it was still pretty fantastic to see it. So make sure you go if you're interested, go check that out. I've actually been working on next week's for a while there because it is specifically a painting of an event that happened over 200 years ago, and it's one that I really love, and it's an amazing painting. The the actual event was a pretty tragic, horrible thing, but I love the painting. So I can't wait to share that with you next week. So make sure to subscribe and give us a little thumbs up here, but make sure you also check out my Instagram or Facebook. And if you're coming to Paris, reach out to book a tour, a walking tour of Paris, or even have me help you plan your trip and time here. There is a lot of things that are always changing here, and all everything I do is very customized to you in exactly what you want to see and how you want to see it. So reach out. You can find everything at ClaudineHemingway.com, and I hope you have a wonderful rest of your week and start to July.