2-913-666 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

The Fete at Paris - Representation of the Siege of Silistria, in the Champ de Mars - Flotilla of Balloons, 1854. Re-enactment of an event from the Crimean War. '...everything appertaining to war or its imitation is always agreeable to the French nation...upwards of 1500 performers lent their aid to impart verisimilitude to the action [of the] military pantomime...the fort of Abd-ul-Medjid occupies the foreground...a body of Russians appear, and the firing commences...the Russians are repulsed with great loss...it is intimated that the French and English forces have landed, and are about to relieve the town; a grand ballet ensues, in which various military dances are given...immediately after, a flotilla of 300 small balloons was launched into thin air...Such is a brief explanation of the representation which was received with extraordinary applause by the thousands assembled...'. From "Illustrated London News", 1854.