VITORIA AND HOT AIR BALLOON REGATTAS

festival del globo vitoria

Vitoria-Gasteiz has had special relevance within aeronautics since the second half of the 19th Century when it was already possible to see hot air balloons flying in our skies. At that time, hot air ballooning was closely linked to the circus, an event where spectators would delight in the ceremony of the hot air balloon being filled up using stoves with fire, dry leaves and straw which produced sufficient heat to fill the balloon which could then rise up into the heavens.

Vitoria-Gasteiz has long been a significant location for hot air ballooning, thanks to its geographical setting on the Paris-Madrid route and the Salburua airfield an important location for air flight.

One of the people behind this development was Heraclio Alfaro who put our city on the air flight map. Alfaro, grandson of Heraclio Fournier, the founder of the playing cards factory, was an important aeronautics engineer and aviator from Vitoria who in the early days of aviation made his name among the pioneers of the sector.

The intrepid Fournier’s attention was drawn to aircraft, hot air balloon regattas, hot air balloons themselves and airships from an early age. In fact, on June 22 1914 he flew his own aircraft named Alfaro I, the first plane made in Spain. He flew this plane over Vitoria-Gasteiz to the delight and amazement of all the citizens of the time.

The excellent location of the capital led to the first hot air balloon event taking place in the Plaza Nueva, just before 1850. However it was on June 16, 1889, this time in the Bull Ring that the hot air balloon company LATUR, as if it were indeed a hot air balloon festival, held a show of hot air balloon acrobatics for the enjoyment of those attending the event.

The company, managed by Antonio Martínez Latur, also known as Milá, staged a performance whereby the acrobats, on trapezes hanging from hot air balloons, performed their stunts. Milá himself took part in these stunts, considered at the time to be hot air balloon events or acrobatics with hot air balloons. After the display had already been suspended twice, Milá finally managed to make it happen although it was the last show Latur was to put on during his lifetime.

In June 1916, another hot air balloon event took place, to be exact at the Lakua airfield, where hot air balloon stunts took place with a hot air balloon called “Ceres” which the military engineers from the Guadalajara Barracks were in control of. Subsequently, this hot air balloon was to land between the Álava towns of Santa Cruz de Campezo and Antoñana.

These early displays were followed by several other hot air balloon events in the capital of Álava, creating a special connection between the citizens of Vitoria and the hot air balloon, a relationship which continues today.

logotipo de la regata internacional de globos de vitoria gasteiz

OCTOBER 5-7
VITORIA-GASTEIZ INTERNATIONAL HOT AIR BALLOON REGATTA

RIG International Hot Air Balloon Regatta. The logos and images contained on this site are the property and registered trademarks of La Fundación San Prudencio. It is strictly prohibited to publish these, in whole or in part, without prior authorization.

logotipo del 50 aniversario de la fundacion san prudencio

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