« Liberty », the theme of the Parisian fireworks display on July 14

To the delight of Parisians, the traditional July 14 fireworks display from the Eiffel Tower did indeed take place.

The City of Paris and the Prefecture have chosen an area on the Champ de Mars to accommodate the public, depending on sanitary conditions.
The gauge should not exceed 15,000 people, the mask and the presentation of the sanitary pass were compulsory.
This health pass corresponds to a complete vaccination schedule. It can also be a negative test of less than 48 hours. Other evidence is a positive RT-PCR or antigen test attesting to recovery from Covid-19, dating at least 11 days and less than 6 months.
A security perimeter stretched between the Champ de Mars and the Trocadéro site. The RATP has closed several metro stations in the area. Parisians were invited to follow the broadcast on television, live in France and abroad.
The fireworks show followed a big concert on the Champ de Mars, which started at 9:30 p.m. It brought together the Orchester national de France, conducted by Simone Young, the choir and the master of Radio France. Other artists took part: the violinist Renaud Capuçon, the trumpeter Ibrahim Maalouf, the mezzo-soprano Clémentine Margaine or the pianist Alexandre Kantorow. Stéphane Bern provided the presentation like the other years.

Hector Berlioz, Georges Bizet, Joséphine Baker … were on the program. It ended with an arrangement of La Marseillaise by Ibrahim Maalouf.

The firework

This year, the chosen theme was « Liberty ». It commemorated the freedom regained after the constraints linked to the pandemic. The duration was 19 minutes against 35 last year. It consisted of 7 tables of 2 minutes each. The Ruggieri company designed the show under the artistic direction of David Proteau. The strict sanitary protocol allowed the 15,000 people present on the Champ de Mars to attend.

Regarding music programming, the list contained titles by artists with very different styles. Queen and her title « I want to break free » opened the festivities. Calogero’s « Cherished Liberty » and The Weeknd’s « Blinding Lights » followed. It was then « 3SEX » from Indochina and Christine and the Queens. Soup Dragons with « I’m Free » then « Freedom! » Aretha Franklin then resonated. « Humans » by The Killers and a cover of Edith Piaf’s Hymn to Love on cello completed the fireworks display.

Highlight of this pyrotechnic show, the painting accompanied by Daft Punk (« Around the World », « Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger » and « Sangria » (soundtrack of the film Climax). This choice was a tribute to the group who announced her separation last February.

The other fireworks

The capital does not have the exclusivity of the fireworks of July 14. In the suburbs, some cities have canceled or postponed. Bordeaux, Marseille, Lyon, Cannes or Rennes kept up the fireworks while Lille, Nancy, Carcassonne, Brest. or Haute-Corse, have canceled. In Toulouse, the municipality had planned 4 identical fireworks in 4 different places for everyone to see it wherever it is.

Origin of July 14

July 14 is for the French, the date of the storming of the Bastille in 1789. Following the installation of 5 cannons taken from the Invalides, French guards position them in front of the Bastille. A few hours later, the prison garrison surrendered. It is the beginning of the French Revolution and the end of absolute monarchy.

A year later, the Fête de la Fédération celebrates the first anniversary of the storming of the Bastille. The feast marks the reconciliation between the King and the people. It takes place on the Champs-de-Mars and brings together 100,000 people, in the presence of the king and the deputies. This date was chosen July 6, 1880 to become the National Day. This decision follows the proposal of Raspail, deputy of the Third Republic who was then 10 years old. July 14, the national holiday, is also declared non-working.

Origin of the fireworks of July 14

China has used gunpowder since the 8th century. In the 13th century, Marco Polo brought it back to Europe. In France, the marriage of Louis XIII and Anne of Austria in 1612, was the occasion to realize the first pyrotechnic show. Fireworks then multiply during royal festivals (marriage, births, baptisms, etc.). Concerts, feasts and balls accompany them in magnificent settings designed by great artists of the time. There is always a final bouquet that sets the sky ablaze. With the Revolution, it became the festive symbol from the Feast of the Federation, July 14, 1790. The cost being too high and leading to the monarchy, it was abandoned until the Consulate. The Second Republic made it essential with the officialization of the National Day in 1880.

Symbol of July 14, fireworks are part of the country’s culture, despite a decline in interest for forty years. However, it remains an important spectacle in the hearts of the French, especially as it is broadcast on television.

The fireworks in Paris

Since 1887, fireworks have been fired at the Tout Eiffel for July 14. It was the first fireworks display fired from the monument. Already at that time, Ruggieri signed the event.

In 1989, a show retraced 100 years of history around the Eiffel Tower. The transition to the year 2000 was also the occasion to organize this fantastic attraction signed Groupe F. The fireworks took place at the Eiffel Tower for the occasion and not near the Champs-Elysées as usual. . This show allowed a retransmission in 250 countries.

For the 120 years of the « Iron Lady », in 2009, a concert by Johnny Hallyday on the Champ-de-Mars preceded the fireworks. Video projections appear for the first time. The Tower came to life to the delight of the 700,000 people present on the Champ-de-Mars.

Now, every year, shots are fired from the Jardins du Trocadéro or the Eiffel Tower. Groupe F or Ruggieri are multiplying their ingenuity to satisfy spectators from Paris or elsewhere for the event broadcast around the world.

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