Ruggieri (Fireworks)

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Ruggieri -
Etienne Lacroix tous Artifices

Ruggieri logo
legal form SA
founding 1739
Seat Monteux , France
Branch pyrotechnics
Website ruggieri.fr

The Ruggieri family is a dynasty of fireworks who have been making pyrotechnic products and setting them off in large fireworks since the 18th century . The family originally came from Bologna , but moved to France in 1743. The company she founded was taken over by the Lacroix Group in 1997, but continues to operate under the Ruggieri brand .

story

Ruggieri fireworks over the Thames on May 15, 1749 to celebrate the Peace of Aachen

Fireworks had two lines of tradition in Europe in the Baroque era : The military tradition used firecrackers , cannon shots and rockets , while German and Russian fireworks were considered to be leading. The tradition of theater and spectacle relied more on colored pictures, booth fireworks and fountains. Italian fireworkers who practiced their craft as part of the Commedia dell'arte were leading here . A scientific basis for understanding the chemical principles of pyrotechnics did not exist. While the military fireworkers were able to obtain their knowledge partly from books and instructions at military schools, the knowledge of the civil fireworkers was only passed on within the family as a professional secret.

The Ruggieri family was part of the civil tradition of fireworks and was considered to be the “most famous fireworks dynasty” in Europe. In 1743 the five Ruggieri brothers Pietro, Francesco, Antonio, Petronio and Gaetano traveled from their hometown of Bologna to France to accompany the Comédie-Italienne to Paris. In the dramas listed there, they provided entertainment with their fireworks during the breaks (intermezzi). In addition to standing fireworks, they also used rotating fireworks, which drew fiery images through horizontal, vertical and inclined arrangements. These "spectacles pyriques" soon broke away from the accompaniment of theater plays and became an independent attraction with names such as "Magical battle, flower garden, volcanic forge or fairy palace". The Ruggieri brothers stayed in Paris and became fireworks at the court of Versailles . Petronio Ruggiero was by Louis XV. appointed purveyor to the court. In the following time the Ruggieris illuminated festivals at many European courts.

Gaetano Ruggieri went to the royal court in London and worked there as a fireworker. On the occasion of the signing of the Peace of Aachen there was to be a big festival, for which Georg Friedrich Handel composed the fireworks music. After a dress rehearsal with paying guests, the peace celebration including the world premiere of Handel's work took place on April 27, 1749 in London's Green Park . The illumination architecture came from Giovanni Niccolò Servandoni (Jean-Nicolas Servan), Gaetano Ruggieri and Giuseppe Sarti (also from Bologna) were responsible for the fireworks. 10,000 rockets and other pyrotechnics, manufactured by the Royal Arsenal in Woolwich, were earmarked for the fireworks . However, the fireworks were a failure: rain hindered the planned firing sequence and some of the many rockets fell on the audience, the magnificent pavilion built for the performance partially burned down.

On May 30, 1770, the French king held a celebration in Paris on the occasion of the wedding of his son and heir to the throne ( Dauphin , later Louis XVI. ) To Marie-Antoinette . The celebration was accompanied by fireworks organized by the Ruggieri brothers. The wind blew some partially burned rockets into the crowded crowd, which caused a mass panic . Officially, 133 people were trampled to death, crushed or drowned in the Seine . Up to 3000 people were possibly killed, but even assuming the official number, this was the world's most lossy fireworks accident, more than the explosion of the Puttingal Temple (2016). The Guinness Book establishes a still valid record for the worst disaster in a fireworks display, measured by the number of deaths.

As a result of the disaster of 1770, the Ruggieri brothers lost their royal favor, so income from other events played a greater role. In 1766 the Ruggieris in Paris opened a pleasure garden near today's St. Lazare train station , in which fireworks were shown against admission. In autumn 1786 Thomas Jefferson - at the time the US ambassador in Paris - visited the Ruggieri pleasure garden with Maria Cosway, whom he admired . The family closed the Jardin Ruggieri on July 12, 1789 - two days before the storming of the Bastille . Pleasure gardens were considered a frivolous pleasure of the ancien régime . In 1801 the Ruggieri family acquired another pleasure garden in Paris, the Jardin Beaujon. This Lustgarten ( "Folie Beaujon") operated the Ruggieries almost 25 years to the attractions included balloons, chariots -race ancient model, costumed parades and an evening fireworks display. In 1815 the Jardin Ruggieri reopened after a long break. The new attraction was the "Saut de Niagara" (jump over Niagara Falls ), an early form of the wild water ride . The family hired famous aviation pioneers such as Blanchard and Enslen , who soared in their balloons in the Ruggieri pleasure gardens. In 1789 the Ruggieris also let their own balloons soar, from which pyrotechnics were fired - a very dangerous undertaking. ( Sophie Blanchard died in this way in 1819 in the Jardin de Tivoli in Paris.)

Claude-Fortune Ruggieri , as a family member of the second generation, was mainly responsible for restoring the family's reputation and wealth after the disaster of 1770 and the revolution of 1789. He applied scientific methods and brought "green fire" to Western Europe for the first time, based on a model from Russia . The Ruggieri's motto was: "Je brûle sans me brûler" ("I burn without being burned")

Presentation of a 50 mm mortar smoke grenade by Ruggieri (1969)

During the First World War , Ruggieri became an armaments manufacturer and produced, among other things. the Le Prieur missile , one of the first air-to-air missiles . These rockets were propelled by 200 grams of black powder and were designed to set zeppelins on fire. Ruggieri also supplied smoke signal cartridges , signal rockets and flares . In 1918 Alexis Villié bought the Bellerive factory in Monteux from M. Jacquin and merged with Breynat until 1921. The two formed Maison Aubin and converted the Ruggieri business into a corporation . Ruggieri continued to produce armaments until the 1960s.

On July 31, 1973, an explosion occurred at the Ruggieri factory in Monteux, leaving four dead and several injured. Another explosion occurred in Monteux on April 12, 1977, with two dead and several injured. Among the injured were 12 children from a neighboring school. As a result of this accident, there were demonstrations in Monteux, in which the population demanded the relocation of the fireworks factories to a location outside the city. The Bellerive plant was closed immediately and by 1984 all of the Ruggieri factories had moved out of Monteux.

In 1983 Ruggieri took care of the fireworks at André Heller's “ Theater des Feuers ” in Lisbon. In the 1980s, Lacroix was Ruggieri's main competitor. The company was founded by Étienne Lacroix in Toulouse in 1848 and has received many medals at world exhibitions. In 1997 the Lacroix Group took over its competitor Ruggieri. In 2012, the company gave up the Lacroix brand for fireworks and from then on operated under the historic name Ruggieri.

Fireworks at the Eiffel Tower by Ruggieri on the French National Day (2017)

In 2014 the Lacroix Group bought the Spanish fireworks manufacturer Pirotecnia Zaragozana , founded in 1860 . On August 31, 2015, an explosion devastated a large part of the Pirotecnia Zaragozana plant in Zaragoza , killing six employees.

In 2018, the Étienne Lacroix Group employed around 400 people in the Toulouse region, the majority of them in the military sector for the manufacture of pyrotechnic decoys . 60 of the employees were involved in the manufacture of civil pyrotechnics in the Ruggieri department. With a fireworks display on July 14th, Ruggieri achieved half of its sales in France and supplied around 4,000 municipalities there. They selected the fireworks from a catalog. Worldwide, Ruggieri achieved sales of around 100 million euros with fireworks in 2018. In 2021 Christophe Berthonneau , managing director of the pyrotechnics company Groupe F , named Ruggieri and Grucci alone as serious competitors in the international market for really big fireworks shows.

Known family members

Family grave of the Ruggieri on Père Lachaise , burial place a. by Michel-Marie R. (1764–1849) and his son Michel François R. (1796–1862)

First generation, five brothers:

  • Pietro Ruggieri (completely Pietro-Antonio-Marie Ruggieri), the eldest of the five brothers, also known as Pierre Ruggieri in Paris
  • Francesco Ruggieri, the second eldest of the five brothers, also known as François Ruggieri in Paris
  • Antonio Ruggieri, the third oldest brother, also known as Antoine Ruggieri in Paris
  • Petronio Ruggieri (completely Petroni-Sauveur-Balthasar Ruggieri, 1724–1794), fourth oldest brother, as the only one of the five brothers he had children, two sons and four daughters
  • Gaetano Ruggieri (? –1782), youngest brother, went to England to the court of George II , buried in Canterbury Cathedral

Second generation:

  • Michel-Marie Ruggieri (1764–1849), son of Petronio and Jeanne-Elizabeth Ruggieri, was appointed royal fireworker at the French royal court in 1788
  • Claude-Fortune Ruggieri (1777–1841), son of Petronio and Jeanne-Elizabeth Ruggieri, scientist and author of pyrotechnic works

Third generation:

  • Michel François Ruggieri (1795 / 1796–1862), son of Michel-Marie Ruggieri, Knight of the Legion of Honor , fireworker at the court of Muhammad Ali Pasha in Egypt
  • Adélaïde Jeanne Ruggieri (1805–1882), daughter of Michel-Marie Ruggieri, married in 1825 to Pierre Etienne Notré (1795–1867)
  • Aimée Ruggieri (1811–1887), daughter of Claude-Fortune Ruggieri, married in 1831 to Henry Barba (1803–1879)
  • Madeleine Ruggieri (1812–), daughter of Claude-Fortune Ruggieri, married to Honoré Tellier (1812–) in 1839
  • Désiré-François Ruggieri (1818–1885), son of Claude-Fortune Ruggieri, received drawing lessons at Ingres ' school , took over the family business as a fireworker and became a protégé of Napoleon III. Désiré-François Ruggieri designed the largest fireworks of the Second Empire .

Fourth generation:

  • Gaëtan Ruggieri, son of Désiré François Ruggieri
  • Paul Ruggieri, son of Désiré François Ruggieri

literature

  • Chennevières, Henry: Les Ruggieri, artificiers: 1730–1885 . In: Gazette des Beaux-arts: La Doyenne des Revues d'Art . Volume 36, No. 2 (1887), pp. 132–140, doi : 10.11588 / diglit.24190.16 .
  • Lynn, Michael R .: Sparks for Sale: The Culture and Commerce of Fireworks in Early Modern France . In: Eighteenth-Century Life . Volume 30, No. 2 (April 2006), pp. 74-97, doi : 10.1215 / 00982601-2005-004 .
  • Une famille d'artificiers: les Ruggieri . In: Grand Larousse encyclopédique , p. 1145. ( Online )
  • Ruggieri, Claude: Précis Historique Sur Les Fêtes, Les Spectacles Et Les Réjouissances Publiques . Paris 1830 ( digitized version at the Berlin State Library )
  • Werrett, Simon: Explosive affinities: Pyrotechnic knowledge in early modern Europe . In: Pamela H. Smith, Benjamin Schmidt (eds.): Making knowledge in early modern Europe: practices, objects, and texts, 1400-1800 . University of Chicago Press, Chicago 2008, ISBN 978-0-226-76329-3 , pp. 68-88. ( Chapter 3 )
  • Werrett, Simon: Fireworks: pyrotechnic arts and sciences in European history . University of Chicago Press, Chicago 2010, ISBN 978-0-226-89377-8 . (especially chapter 5 )

Web links

Commons : Ruggieri (pyrotechnicians)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Seymour mouse head: Igniting Early Modern Science through Pyrotechnics . In: Technology and Culture , ISSN  1097-3729 , Vol. 52, No. 3 (July 2011), p. 608. ( JSTOR 23020648 , the original quote is "perhaps the most celebrated of pyrotechnical families - Italiens named Ruggieri") .
  2. ↑ Simon Werrett: Explosive affinities . In: Smith, Schmidt (Ed.): Making knowledge in early modern Europe . Chicago 2008, pp. 76-79.
  3. ^ Christopher Hogwood: Handel: Water Music and Music for the Royal Fireworks . Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 2005, ISBN 978-0-521-83636-4 , pp. 80 ff.
  4. ↑ Jessie Guy-Ryan: Inside the World's Deadliest Fireworks Accident . Atlas Obscura, July 4, 2016.
  5. ↑ Worst firework disaster - death toll , guinnessworldrecords.com. The website incorrectly gives the date, the disaster occurred on May 30, 1770, not May 16. (Accessed December 2021)
  6. ↑ Linda Charlton: Manufacturer of Fireworks in Paris Returning a Compliment to Jefferson . In: New York Times , Apr 9, 1976, p. 17.
  7. ↑ Stephen M. Silverman, The Amusement Park: 900 Years of Thrills and Spills, and the Dreamers and Schemers Who Built Them . Hachette, 2019, ISBN 9780316416474 .
  8. ↑ Michael R Lynn: The Sublime Invention: Ballooning in Europe, 1783-1820 . Routledge, 2015, ISBN 9781317324164 , p. 139.
  9. ↑ Simon Werrett: Full Color Fireworks . In: Viewpoint , edited by the British Society for the History of Science . Issue 102 (November 5, 2013), pp. 4–5.
  10. ↑ François Caviglioli: "Trois siècles d'artifices". In: Le Nouvel Observateur , July 13, 1984 ( first page of the article)
  11. ↑ Centenaire des fusées Le Prieur , École Militaire Interarmes, 2016, p. 21. ( PDF ).
  12. ^ Ian Sumner: The French Air Force in the First World War . Pen & Sword Aviation, Barnsley 2018, ISBN 9781526701794 .
  13. ^ Nicolas Lavergne: Il ya 40 ans, Monteux explosait . In: La Provence, April 12, 2017. ( Online )
  14. ↑ 40ème anniversaire de l'explosion de l'usine Bellerive de Ruggieri , website of Christian Gros, Mayor of Monteux, April 12, 2017.
  15. ↑ Bohemian nasal radio operator . In: Der Spiegel , No. 23/1983 (June 5, 1983)
  16. ↑ Pirotecnia Zaragozana homenajea a las víctimas en el aniversario del accidente . In: Heraldo , August 31, 2016.
  17. ↑ Lucie Fraisse: Toulouse: la saga de l'entreprise Ruggieri, qui va tirer la plupart des feux d'artifice en France . Actu Toulouse , website of Côté Toulouse magazine , 13 July 2018.
  18. ↑ Interview with Christophe Berthonneau : Une flamme et mille défis: enchanter les grands événements du monde . In: Le journal de l'école de Paris du management , No. 147 (2021/1), pp. 38–44. doi : 10.3917 / jepam.147.0038 .
  19. ^ A b c d Claude Ruggieri: Précis Historique Sur Les Fêtes, Les Spectacles Et Les Réjouissances Publiques . Paris 1830, p. 77 (footnote I)
  20. ^ Giovanni Ermenegildo Schiavo: Four Centuries of Italian-American History . Vigo Press, New York 1952, p. 120.
  21. ↑ Simon Werrett: Fireworks: pyrotechnic arts and sciences in European history . Chicago 2010, p. 293 (footnote 132)
  22. ^ A b c Henry de Chennevières: Les Ruggieri, artificiers: 1730–1885 . In: Gazette des Beaux-Arts . Volume 36, No. 2 (1887), pp. 132–140.