It all started with the "Elixir of Immortality". The creation of such an amazing substance for more than a thousand years ago, Taoist monks were engaged in hard monks. They tried to mix different substances, varied their proportions, heated, cooled. The result was unexpected: the experimenters "cheered" the powder of black, which, when ignited with hiss and the rumble, destroyed everything around. Here you and the elixir of eternal life!
Completely "innovation" of the Chinese: their miracle powder (he was called smoky powder) they adapted at first for peaceful purposes, preparing on its basis the special fiery ceremonies - fireworks, who soon became the necessary element of the religious holiday of the New Year's meeting. The first mention of such an event was preserved in the records of one of the courty Chinese emperor, dated × 1044 (but the sample of gunpowders for military purposes was held only in the XII century)
At the beginning of the XIII century, Chinese craftsmen made up new mixtures, which when ignited could create "heavenly fire" of different colors and even different shapes. Similar "shows" caused a storm of delight among foreigners who visited the subwayless empire. Although the pyrotechnic "know-how" was considered in China with one of the most important public secrets and were very strictly protected, all the same samples of "focal foci" in the XIV century. got to Europe. There is reason to believe that the well-known medieval traveler Marco Polo became the secrets of secrets. Italians turned out to be the most Yary admirers of pyrotechnic wonders brought from the East. It was in this country almost 500 years ago a book was published in Europe with instructions on the device Fireworks - "De La PirotExnika".
Tsarist love
Our country in terms of pyrotechnic fun in the Middle Ages has not lagged behind the Old World. In the days of Dmitry Donskoy, in 1389 in Moscow launched "funny lights" (though foreign production). Own masters of "Fire Work" appeared in Russia almost 200 years later. In the middle of the XVI century, in one of the shooting regiments was established the position of the "powder head", which was charged the responsibility to invent various fireworks, prepare the necessary charges and run them during the holidays.
The first large-scale fireworks in Russia took place after the ball on the occasion of the 18th anniversary of Peter in 1690.
The description of the Russian firework is in old books. Hollandets Baltazar Koet, for example, in his written "Embassy of Conrad van Klenka to the kings Aleksey Mikhailovich and Fyodor Alekseevich" spoke about "noble fire fun", arranged in the winter of 1676 in Veliky Ustyug on the occasion of the visit of foreigners. Guests admired multicolored "tailed" rockets with fiery wheels ... You can find the fireworks in the archives, shown in 1683 at the Moscow Sparrow Mountains.
The eighteenth century has become a century of fireworks for Russia. "Fire Representations" included not only the pyrotechnic itself, but also painting, sculpture, music. These acts, suitable on special sites, lasted for 2-3 hours and sometimes unfolded into real performances, which consisted of a variety of episodes. They even had to compose special comments - so that the audience did not get confused in the wisdom allegories ... "acting persons" were figures specially made of wood and "contour" pyrotechnic charges. Often they were made mobile and in the course of the presentation "came to life", moving in space with tens of workers.
Petr I was considered a large fan of Fireworks. Back in February 1690, when the 18th anniversary of the young king was noted, an unprecedented "tiny case" was rented. It was the first truly large-scale fireworks in Russia. He cost the execution of 10 thousand rubles (for comparison: the cow then cost only 3 rubles). Thanks to the art of powder masters, the sky appeared, for example, an allegorical fiery picture - Hercules, tearing the mouth of the lion ...
The tsar reformer gathered in his personal library hardly not all the books on pyrotechnics, recorded new recipes for the fireworks, prepared sketches of intricate pyrotechnic structures and even whole "fiery paintings" ... In addition, Peter established special " Rocket institution. " There, in 1707, a signal rocket was made, which could rise to one kilometer to one kilometer with a powder charge!
Thanks to Peter Alekseevich, "funny lights" turned into a mandatory attribute of any major celebration. It is this restless self-container on the outcome of the XVII century overlooking the illumination on the New Year's Eve and produce fiery fun. Moreover, every regular New Year's fireworks had a certain semantic load. He, as it were, summarized the last year and reminded of the main events - first of all, of course, about the military.
For example, funny lights lit on January 1, 1710, were dedicated to victory over the Swedish king Karl Xii when Poltava. Spectators admired several allegorical paintings: "Mountain Stone, which is a Swedish state. The lion coming out of the Mountain is the Army Swedish. A pillar with a crown, which shows the state of Polish (...) Then an eagle appeared to protect the pillars, which is an army of Russian, and it is divided with a great thunder with fiery arrow ... "
"Stuffing" from Lomonosov
In the second half of the XVIII century. In terms of the device of "funny lights" and illuminations, Russia has already overtaken all other European countries. Above the development of new pyrotechnic effects was able to work out even the famous to our universal Lomonosov. By order of the Empress Elizabeth Petrovna (who inherited a passionate love of "fire play"), he had to deal with "directed" - to compose the plots for the next "tiny action", invent intricate allegory, and in some cases even write poems for grand pyrotechnic Representations, prepare sketches of scenery and figures ...
However, the most interesting for the scientist was, of course, work with a chemical "stuffing". Thanks to numerous laboratory experiments, Lomonosov was able to ensure that rockets exploded more loudly, and the fluxes of sparks from the fiery fountains flew higher. In addition, thanks to the studies of Mikhail Vasilyevich to traditional until the pore, white, yellow, orange, the blue shades were added another one - green (in the report on research work in 1756, the scientist wrote: "Now the Laboratory of Clementev under my Looking seeks in my direction, how to do for fireworks riding green stars ... ") Western Europe received this secret from Russia.
Later, in the XIX century, the fashion for fireworks we clearly went to decline, and by the 1930s, there were no trace of the former magnificence of the "fire performances". Even the most significant holidays in the country have done actually without pyrotechnic decorations. True, since 1943, Muscovites had the opportunity to admire salutes from firework morrti, arranged on the occasion of military victories and "red calendar dates".