Ticket to the end of the circle. Knightly carousels: the fun of the noble In what year did the carousel appear

Knightly equestrian carousels - fun of the highest class, military equestrian game, performance in imitation of military tournaments (V. Dahl). This is a reflection of certain moral principles and ideals of chivalry: never deviate from virtue, never leave the weak oppressed by the strong unprotected, patronize defenseless women who are in persecution and danger. Passion for knightly ideals also affected the conduct of secular rituals.

The knightly carousel is a competition in the types of military art, only nobles could take part in it, and representatives of other classes could not participate. In France, carousels were a favorite pastime of the nobles at the end of the 17th century, and King Louis XIV himself took part in them, striking everyone with his martial art. At the same time, mechanical carousels appeared to prepare young nobles for competitions.

Mechanical carousels were devices with wooden horses and chariots rotating around a vertical pole. People sitting on horses tried to hit shields and balls during rotation, to tear off suspended rings with spears. The mechanical carousel appeared in Russia under Peter I even before the advent of the equestrian carousel.

The first horse carousel in Russia was organized under Catherine II in St. Petersburg in 1766. Initially, it was planned to be held in 1765, and everything was already prepared, even nobles from distant provinces came to participate in the tournament, but due to rainy weather - there was not a single fine day all summer - the carousel was postponed to the next year.

The participants of the carousel were divided into four groups of horsemen, called square dancers: Slavic, Indian, Roman and Turkish, all dressed in appropriate costumes. The first group was led by Count Saltykov, the second was commanded by Grigory Orlov, the third by his brother Alexei, and the fourth by Prince Pyotr Repnin, who developed the plan for the entire carousel. The competition was judged by Field Marshal Munnich. Before the start of the tournament, all gentlemen had to prove their noble origin to the chief of the ringmaster.

A huge wooden amphitheater for several thousand spectators was built on the Senate Square in front of the Winter Palace, designed by the architect Rinaldi, and military armor, garlands of flowers and lion heads were painted on the barrier that framed the arena. Two quadrilles approached the amphitheater from two sides. In the convoy of the master of ceremonies there were two trumpeters, eight heralds and eight horsemen under the command of a non-commissioned officer, with cavaliers there were squires, charioteers and musicians performing national melodies.

Having received the permission of the empress, the chief master of ceremonies, Prince P.A. Golitsyn, gave the order to start the tournament. The signal was the firing of three Admiralty guns. The competition was opened by ladies on gilded chariots - the participants on the move threw darts at the set targets. The winner was Natalya Petrovna Chernysheva, married to Princess Golitsyna (she later became the prototype of Pushkin's Queen of Spades), one of the most prominent ladies-in-waiting of the Empress. She rode beautifully on a horse, both with a lady's and a man's saddle, shot from a gun and a bow, and even fenced, and enthusiastically took part in a jousting tournament. Natalya Chernysheva not only threw darts, but also shot from a bow from a chariot. She got the first prize - a gold medal and a diamond rose from the hands of the Empress.

The most exciting was the performance of the men. Cavaliers at full gallop cut off the heads of dolls depicting Moors, speared cardboard blacks and dummies of wild boars, but most importantly, the knights decided to surpass each other in the luxury of toilets. Saint Petersburg Vedomosti wrote: “The audience saw a shimmering mountain of wealth and abundance in precious stones and all kinds of cavalry and equestrian gold and silver attire. The attire of gentlemen shone richly with precious stones, but countless treasures appeared on ladies' attire ... at the price of many millions. The first place among men was taken by I.A. Shakhovskoy, to whom the Empress presented a diamond button and a buttonhole for his hat.

In July, the second stage of the tournament was held. Chernysheva again became the winner among the ladies, and additional competitions had to be held among the men: both Orlov brothers claimed the first place. At the end of the tournament, everyone gathered in the Summer Palace, the judges deliberated there, to whom to award the championship, and the knights expected prizes. The first place among the knights was taken by Grigory Orlov, having received a prize and a laurel branch, and his brother Alexei - the "audience award" - the ladies gave their favorite a few flowers from their bouquets. After the distribution of prizes and dinner, the “mask ball” continued until five in the morning. In honor of the carousel for the awarding of the winners, gold medals were knocked out, on one side of which the Empress is depicted, and on the other - the stadium, over which an eagle with a wreath soars.

Under Paul I, carousels were held in Gatchina, where a stationary amphitheater was built for this purpose, the ruins of which can still be seen in the Gatchina park.

Count Alexei Grigoryevich Orlov-Chesmensky lived out his life in Moscow. In the Orlov estate in the Neskuchny Garden, carousels were arranged in the arena, in which the daughter of the count, Anna Alekseevna, took part. At full gallop, she pulled out the rings screwed into the walls of the arena with spears and cut down the heads of mannequins, and became the main heroine of the knightly carousel, which took place in Moscow in 1811.

The Moscow merry-go-round of 1811 was financed by the contributions of honored guests-philanthropists, among whom were the most distinguished people of the state. Opposite the Alexander Palace and the Neskuchny Garden, an amphitheater for five thousand people was built, all of Moscow was looking forward to the carousel, which took place on June 20 and 25, 1811. Four knightly quadrilles - Military, Gallic, Hungarian and Russian - rode into the arena on horses of rare beauty and demonstrated their ability to wield a spear, sword and pistol.

The carousel of 1811 was charitable, the collected money was distributed to the wounded soldiers in Moscow, poor officers, widows, and they also redeemed unfortunate debtors arrested by creditors. Since then, carousels have declined, they began to be carried out without military exercises, and were reduced to the performance by ladies and gentlemen of various dances on horseback.

Nicholas I considered the carousel an excellent training for the guards, and under him they began to be carried out especially often. The last carousel took place on May 23, 1842, on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the marriage of Emperor Nicholas I. In the evening, a knightly cortege consisting of 16 ladies and 16 cavaliers set out from Arsenal Square. The gentlemen were in armor taken from the Arsenal, and the ladies were in dresses of the 16th century. Emperor Nicholas and Tsarevich Alexander were in the armor of the time of Maximilian, and the younger grand dukes were in pageant costumes of that era. The cortege arrived at the site in front of the Alexander Palace, where a carousel was performed, consisting of a quadrille and other complex evolutions in equestrian formation. This knightly holiday, at the request of the sovereign, in 1843. captured by the artist Horace Vernier in the painting "Tsarskoye Selo Carousel", which is now in Gatchina.

The traditions of holding carousels in Russia suddenly began to revive in the 21st century, only now the carousel is called and looks different: the disengagement of foot and horse guards of the Presidential Regiment is a very colorful and spectacular ceremony. The divorce includes a parade ground and the removal of regalia, for 20 minutes a company of the Guard of Honor demonstrates combat techniques with weapons, and cavalrymen - a horse carousel. The first divorce took place on April 16, 2005, it takes place only in the warm season, every Saturday, on the Cathedral Square of the Moscow Kremlin, and on the last Saturday of the month - on Red Square, to the accompaniment of the Presidential Regiment Orchestra, performing various signals and marches.

Military weapons are used at the ceremony: carbines and checkers of the 1927 model, and the uniform is stylized as the ammunition of the Life Guards Dragoon Regiment, which was developed by the court of Nicholas II for the celebration of the 100th anniversary of the victory in the war of 1812. The setting of the guards in the Kremlin is in no way inferior to the best examples of such ceremonies in the world.

I'm ten years old and I'm dreaming of a merry-go-round. It's like a starship - round, bright, loud - landed in an old park across the street.

Rainbow tent with a flag, toy music, mirrors, gilding. A strange man sells tickets, says "attention, we are leaving", starts the mechanism.
And in a circle: horses, horses, horses. Big, just like life. With real manes and tails.
In my dream, I did not see the face of the owner of the carousel. I was always woken up before I had time to ride the red horse even a couple of laps.

In fact, we did not have a big festive carousel in the park. Only a shooting gallery, slot machines for 15 kopecks (“sea battle” and “winter hunting”), a small Ferris wheel and a swing-boat.

As an adult, I saw real old carousels in Paris and Prague, and then in Moscow in front of the Gorky Park of Culture. Everyone wanted to ride: both small and large.

In Paris, happy lottery tickets, lemon ice cream and baked chestnuts were sold near the carousel; in Prague, a brass band played; in Moscow, a photographer photographed the happy faces of those who rush in circles.

At first, this attraction was not for children. In the 12th century, eastern riders competed in a round arena in strength and agility on horseback.
The crusaders - Italians and Spaniards - called this harsh fun "little war", "garosello" or "carosella". They spread this custom throughout Europe.

In the 17th century, knightly tournaments lost their cruelty and turned into a game: elegant horsemen rode in a circle and tore off bells and golden rings suspended on threads with spears.

The French liked this kind of fun, and in order to entertain children from noble families, they came up with a simulator on a turntable - wooden horses, the size of a pony, in order to raise dexterous riders into future knights from a young age.
This device is the great-grandmother of all modern carousels.

The first mechanical carousels were invented back in the 18th century, and Peter I brought them to Russia, like many other things. Over time, the noble sons got bored with fun, and they began to build carousels for the common people at fairs.

But the birthday of a real carousel (with a tent, music, mirrors and colorful horses) is July 25, 1871. It was on this day that the enterprising American Jew William Schneider received his patent.

It was a luxurious two-story carousel, a real work of art: a herd of colorful horses, cabins closed from the wind and special places for parents. The horses circled rather slowly, about the same speed as a person walks in the park. So that visitors would not get bored, Schneider came up with the idea of turning on music - a circus organ. And there were also various surprises: artificial clouds moved over the heads of the audience, like in a theater, magical pictures replaced each other, mechanical puppets moved in the very heart of the carousel, sweets and souvenirs were sold to passengers from the ground, and in the evenings Bengal lights sparkled on the tent.

Now it is impossible to imagine an amusement park or a city fair without a carousel.

When electric motors appeared, Walt Disney installed colorful carousels in his amusement park that turned so fast that riding a wooden horse was like flying into space.
Since then, children and adults have been driven around not only by horses, but also by tigers, lions, giraffes, unicorns, golden griffins, centaurs, dragons, dolphins, dinosaurs, and even mermaids with grasshoppers.

However, the old horses are still with us. In Ireland and in the south of France there are dynasties of sedentary gypsies who even today carve and paint carousel horses with sad and cheerful eyes, with colorful harness, black lacquered hooves and lush bangs.

The secrets of craftsmanship are passed down from father to son. They say that these horses bring good luck for the whole year to anyone who has ever ridden on a carousel on the first Sunday of summer holidays.

The carousel is a circus tent, where you are both a spectator and a rider, it is a road to childhood that does not end while the music is playing, while tickets, donuts, candy floss and roasted chestnuts are being sold, and weekends are marked in red on the calendar.

Fun has become an urban legend, many fairy tales are associated with it:

"... They turned to the carousel.
And on time.
Because at that very moment the music burst even louder, the trumpets sang, and the merry-go-round, without ceasing to spin furiously, took off from the ground.
Higher and higher she rose, multi-colored horses rushed in a circle, and the reflection of her lights gilded the foliage on the tops of the trees.
- She's flying away! Michael said.
- Mary Poppins, come back! Oh come back! the boys shouted, holding out their hands to her.
But there was no answer.
The carousel had already risen above the tallest trees, and, spinning, screwed into the sky.
Now the silhouette of Mary Poppins has become a barely noticeable dark dot against the background of a bright circle of light ... Now the carousel itself, decreasing and decreasing, seemed only a bright star in the evening sky, a little more than the rest of the stars.
("Mary Poppins", translated by Boris Zakhoder)

So Pamela Travers, in the fairy tale of the magical nanny, sent Mary Poppins to new adventures.

And in Ray Bradbury's story "Trouble Coming", the carousel became truly dangerous and mysterious:

“According to the knock, ringing and rattling, the carousel moved from its place.
"But it's broken!" - Willy thought in a panic and looked at Jim in bewilderment. He pointed down. And then only Willy noticed: the carousel was spinning in the opposite direction! “And the music is also the other way around,” Willy guessed.
(translated by N. Grigorieva and V. Grushenetsky)

The nighttime carousel in the traveling Autumn People's booth could send a person into the past or future in a matter of minutes. They say all carousel horses go to heaven and never forget their riders.
But whatever the magic of the carousel, it will always remain with us, from childhood to old age. Keep purchased tickets until the end of the circle.

The French poet Jacques Prevert wrote:

“Horses have eyes as clear as the sky.
Horses have real tails.
Pierced by a copper bar,
comfortable for riders
you keep spinning, spinning, poor,
silently and not counting the circles.
While, exciting us and tormenting,
the music flows unceasingly
deaf to this familiar sound,
you keep running in circles, in circles.
The soul likes a banal chorus,
and maybe she's right.
Well, horses like music,
from which the head is spinning.
(translated by M. Yasnov)

Carousels are very beautiful, interesting and original game complexes that cause real delight in children of any age. Modern carousels amaze with their diversity - a lot of their options are presented on the domestic market. But few people know that the first carousels were not intended for entertainment at all, but for a very serious matter - in the 12th century they were used in the competitions of Arab horse riders, and were also used in the training of Spanish and Italian crusaders. It was the crusaders who called their training “little war”, which in translation sounds like “carosella” - hence the word “carousel” came from. Subsequently, a game of the same name appeared, which began to spread rapidly throughout Europe. It was especially popular among the knights - they, sitting on horseback, had to pick up the rings that hung in a circle with spears.

Subsequently, with the help of a carousel, in France they decided to train young warriors. For this, a wooden analogue of the structure was created - a vertical pillar around which chariots and horses made of wood revolve. The task of future warriors sitting on horseback was to hit shields and swords with spears in a timely manner, as well as to remove suspended rings. In the future, such carousels began to be made not only for education, but also for the entertainment of children from noble families.

In our country, the first carousel appeared at the end of the 18th century. Then it was also called "carousel", it was installed in front of the Winter Palace. To date, there is a huge selection of such structures, which can be divided into several groups depending on the type of rotation around the vertical axis:

Carousel with wavy type of rotation;
Carousel with simple rotation;
Carousel with complex rotation;
Carousel with rotation and lifting.

In addition, it is worth noting that in the manufacture of modern carousels, materials such as stainless steel, wood, polymers, and so on can be used. As a result, the finished structure is not only beautiful in appearance, reliable and durable, but also wear-resistant, which is very important. Another mandatory requirement for all materials used in the manufacture of carousels is absolute safety for the environment and people. After all, kids spend several hours daily on the playground, and if they come into contact with surfaces that are dangerous to their health, this will certainly lead to very bad consequences in the future. All products sold by our company have the necessary certificates confirming their quality.

If you want to purchase a carousel, at the same time, you need a really good product, please contact our StroyService Group company. We specialize in the sale of various gaming complexes, we can offer a wide range of them at affordable prices.

In the 12th century, Arab and Turkish riders regularly held equestrian events, which later Italian and Spanish crusaders called the "little war", or garosello and carosella respectively. And this word, mixed from Italian and Spanish, gave the name to the carousel familiar to us. One of the types of these competitions replaced medieval jousting tournaments in Europe in the 17th century. The game consisted in the fact that riders on horseback walked in a circle and picked up the hung golden rings with spears. In France, this fun was a huge success, they also came up with a wooden analogue of the carousel for young riders.

If Catherine II had been told that over time, the exquisite entertainment of high society - the carousel - would turn into a children's attraction, the Empress would have been incredibly surprised. For her, since childhood, the merry-go-round was a special kind of equestrian competition that replaced jousting tournaments for the nobles. The carousels were attended not only by men dressed in improvised knightly armor, but also by ladies. And exercises for dexterity, courage, speed of movement, accuracy of shooting or throwing a spear were usually carried out when moving in a circle.

This entertainment came to Russia from France and Germany, where it originated in the 16th century. Particularly magnificent carousels were held at the court of Louis XIV. Perhaps it was them that Catherine II took as a basis, who wished to arrange exciting and useful entertainment for her courtiers. It is worth noting that original carousels began to be carried out under the Empress Elizabeth Petrovna, but in terms of scope and beauty they cannot be compared with Catherine's ones.

The Empress appointed Prince P.I. Repnin, who repeatedly observed these colorful actions abroad. The prince developed and presented to Catherine II a detailed plan, called "Description of the carousel." The plan was approved by the Empress on May 25, 1765, and preparations began. All expenses, and they were supposed to be considerable, were borne by the court department.

In accordance with the plan, the participants were divided into 4 groups (quadrille) - Slavic, Roman, Turkish and Indian. Each group had costumes, weapons, harness and carriages styled after those used by the respective nationalities. The first group was headed by the empress herself, Grigory Orlov was placed at the head of the second, his younger brother Alexei was the third, and Prince Peter Repnin was the fourth.

In the competition between the two Orlov brothers, the eldest, Grigory, became the winner, however, with a slight advantage. One of the empress's awards to the brothers was an order to the famous Danish artist V. Eriksen to perform the so-called "carousel portraits". These huge paired portraits of the Orlovs belonged to the Gatchina Palace and before the Great Patriotic War adorned the Ministerial Stairs of the Arsenal Square. Looking at the magnificent portrait of Grigory Orlov, one could understand why the empress loved the favorite so passionately and tenderly. A stately handsome man in Roman armor sparkling with gold in the sun, in a helmet with bright feathers, with a spear in his hand, rides a hot horse ...

The spectacle was to be not only colorful, but also large-scale. Each group included horsemen who were to demonstrate their skill and dexterity in vaulting, shooting and throwing spears, their squires, ladies, charioteers and musicians who were to perform national melodies. Even the training of the participants of the future carousel was a breathtaking sight. One of these rehearsals was attended by the Empress with the heir to the throne, Pavel, about which there was an entry in the Chamber Fourier journal: “Ladies went there, and then men. Only no one has had a dress yet, because these are only samples.

The training was not limited to training and making appropriate costumes. On Palace Square, under the guidance of the architect A. Rinaldi, they began to build a grandiose wooden amphitheater surrounding the arena for the carousel. Special gold medals were minted at the mint to reward the winners. It is curious that, as in modern competitions, medals were supposed to be awarded for first, second and third places, only they differed not in metal, but in size. On one side of the medal was a carousel amphitheater near the banks of the Neva with an eagle soaring above it and the inscription: "From the Alfeevs to the Neva banks." On the other side of the medal, according to tradition, they depicted the profile of the empress.

The luxury of exotic costumes, elegant harness of horses, unusual shape and decorations of chariots, playing music on ancient instruments, shots from cannons, giving signals for various actions, turned the knight's carousel into a festive carnival and a magnificent spectacle. Crowds of residents of St. Petersburg saw the participants of the carousel at the time when they were driving from the camps to the Winter Palace. Camps, consisting of painted tents, were located near the Summer Palace and on the site of the present M. Morskaya Street.

Unfortunately, the summer of 1765 turned out to be rainy, and the carousel had to be postponed to the next year. The Italian Casanova, who visited Russia that summer, but did not wait for the carousel, wrote later: “Four quadrilles, each with a hundred horsemen, were supposed to break spears for awards of great value. The whole empire was informed of a magnificent festival. Princes, counts, barons have already begun to gather from the most distant cities, taking the best horses. A fine day without rain, wind or overhanging clouds is a rare phenomenon for St. Petersburg. In Italy we are always waiting for good weather, in Russia - bad. For the whole of 1765, there was not a single fine day in Russia. The scaffolding was covered, and the celebration took place the following year. The Knights spent the winter in St. Petersburg, and who did not have enough money for that, returned home.

In 1766, the weather favored the carousel, and on June 16, Petersburgers began to flock to Palace Square. Special tickets were prepared for the spectators, but they were distributed free of charge, regardless of class, as long as the person was decently dressed.

On the sides of the imperial box there are boxes for "fans" of quadrilles, decorated in the corresponding national styles. The composition of the participants practically did not change, only the Empress ceded the leadership of her quadrille to Count I.P. Saltykov. Judge the competition was assigned to Field Marshal B.K. Minihu.

Tent camps were set up for the quadrille participants near the Palace Square, where they could change clothes and prepare for the competition. The signal for the start of the competition was the firing of three Admiralty guns. The very movement of the quadrilles to the Palace Square turned into a colorful spectacle, which gathered along the streets a large crowd of people who could not get into the stands. In the amphitheater, the quadrilles were placed in front of the boxes of their "fans".

The competition was started by the ladies, who from the chariots shot at the target with bows and threw darts. In those days, even in high society, ladies were perfectly able to wield weapons, which they demonstrated. The most accurate was the daughter of Count P.G. Chernysheva - Natalya (you know her in absentia - she will marry Golitsyn and become the prototype of Pushkin's Queen of Spades). For the first place she was awarded a diamond jewelry. The second place was taken by Countess A.V. Panin, who received a snuffbox with diamonds from the hands of the Empress. For the third place, Countess E.A. Buturlina got a diamond ring. Less valuable prizes were awarded to the drivers of the winners: Baron I.E. Ferzen, A.N. Shchepotiev and Count D.M. Matyushkin.

The most exciting was the performance of the men who shot at a target at a gallop, chopped off the heads of mannequins, threw spears, and demonstrated the art of horsemen. The judges gave the first place to I.A. Shakhovsky, to whom the Empress presented a diamond button and a buttonhole on his hat. The second was V.M. Rebinder, who received a cane with a diamond head. For third place, Count Steinbeck received a diamond ring.

The carousel made a huge impression on both the audience and the Empress. In July, the second stage of the competition was held, the content of which remained practically unchanged. Among the ladies, Chernysheva again became the first. And among men, additional competitions had to be held, since the contenders for the first place, the brothers Grigory and Alexei Orlov, scored, according to the judges, an equal number of points. At the second competition, Gregory was able to get ahead of his brother, and he was awarded a golden laurel wreath. For the excellent preparation and behavior of the carousel, all its organizers received rich gifts.

In the future, similar carousels were arranged more than once, not only in St. Petersburg, but also in Moscow. Under Paul I, carousels were held in Gatchina, where a stationary amphitheater with turf benches was built. The ramparts that remained from it can still be seen in the Gatchina park.

The author of this unique park structure was a talented architect, as well as a musician, poet N.A. Lvov, who built another earthen building in Gatchina - the Priory Palace. In the Kushelev albums with plans and projects for Gatchina in 1798, which are stored in the palace-museum, there is a project for this Amphitheater. On the project, made in color with watercolors, you can see the Amphitheater as it should have been: with green turf benches along the shaft, statues, vases, lamps, with forged gates and the monogram of Paul I, with green trellises of cut shrubs along the top of the shaft .

Unlike the ancient amphitheatres, in which gladiator fights and displays of animals were held, the Gatchina amphitheater was intended for "knight's carousels" - equestrian competitions or the performance of various figures on horseback.

Especially often carousels began to be carried out under Nicholas I, who considered them an excellent training for the guards. The carousel of 1842, held in Tsarskoe Selo, was attended by Nicholas I himself and members of his family. The participants in this carousel were dressed in real medieval armor, issued for such an occasion from the personal collection of the emperor. A large painting "Tsarskoye Selo Carousel" by the artist O. Vernet has been preserved, giving an idea of this stadium with the participation of the emperor. For the carousel, Nicholas put on armor from the time of Emperor Maximilian. The Empress and her daughters were in luxurious dresses, stylized as medieval ones. Younger sons dressed as pages. The rest of the carousel participants were in similar outfits.

Colorful knightly carousels are long gone. But, while taking children in the park on the carousel familiar to us, remember that once it was not an attraction, but a colorful competition in which the Russian nobility demonstrated their prowess.

Carousel horses (Part 1)

The history of the carousel. City of carousels. The oldest carousels in the world.

Lee Dubin Carousel

In 1559, at a jousting tournament in honor of the peace treaties of France with Spain and Savoy, Count Montgomery mortally wounded King Henry II with a fragment of a spear that hit the king in the eye.

Since then, bloody jousting tournaments have been banned, and they have been replaced by CAROUSELs.

Carousel(Italian carosello “little war”, French carrousel) is an equestrian war game that reached great development in the 17th century, replacing tournaments.

Thus, the very word “carousel” appeared in the Middle Ages and meant a military holiday, parade, colorful demonstration performance of cavalry. Knightly games were an obligatory element of such a holiday. So, for example, the horsemen moved in a circle and ripped off the hung golden rings with spears.

To train young riders in the 18th century, French engineers began to build a rotating attraction with suspended wooden horses, sitting on which visitors had to remove rings from poles with a spear or hit targets set in a circle. Later, carousels began to be made not only for teaching children, but also for entertainment, and in addition to horses, other animals appeared on them.
One of these mechanical carousels was brought to Russia by Peter I. Over time, the attraction improved, gradually coming to the form familiar to us today. (https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carousel)

Carousel on the Maiden's field. 1904 (http://www.retromap.ru/)

The following engraving illustrates well the game with the ring:

“The Merry-Go-Round” Smart visitorsto a country fair in the eighteenth century. Painting by F.H. Kaemmerer

Initially, the figures were suspended and the carousel itself was set in motion manually or horses or donkeys were used for this. By the middle of the nineteenth century, a rotating carousel platform was developed, and figures began to be placed on it.

Around the same time, the torsion mechanism was automated - carousels appeared with a steam engine (inventor Thomas Bradshaw, 1861, England) and electric (engineer Frederick Savage). Sedgwick also developed a mechanism that allowed the figures not only to stand on a rotating platform, but also to move up and down.

Robert Barnes "A Marry-Go-Round on the Ice" 1888

Amos Sewell (American, 1901-1983) Children on a Carousel (http://parashutov.livejournal.com/4 1787.html)

So, the birthplace of the carousel is France.

Very interesting drawing Le Petit Manège, rue Caulaincourt, 1905. A small mobile carousel on a cart is presented. There is also a barrel organ for musical accompaniment.

Le Petit Manège, rue Caulaincourt, 1905, University of Michigan Museum of Art

Such carousels were very popular at seasonal fairs in towns and villages.

Here is another example of a small mobile carousel:

Such vans were often part of rocking circuses.

Circus carousel wagon, 1910

Today, carousels in France have not lost their popularity. Paris is called the city of carousels, there are more than three dozen of them. Carousels are located at the City Hall (Place de l'Hôtel de Ville), on the squares: Odeon (Place de l'Odéon), Joffre (Place Joffre), Madeleine (Place de la Madeleine), Concorde (Place de la Concorde), on the esplanade station Montparnasse, next to the Palace of Chaillot (Place du Trocadéro) / www.mafrance.ru

The oldest Parisian carousel that has survived to this day is located in the Luxembourg Gardens. Garnier, built in 1879. The children on this carousel are given wooden sticks to hit the ring held by the attendant.

Another oldest carousel in Europe is located in Prague and belongs to the National Technical Museum. It is currently under renovation and is expected to be completed in 2017.

“The horses are interesting because they have wooden bodies, straw in their belly, and the figures themselves are covered with real horse skin. Therefore, the restoration of these horses is a very laborious work. In the 1930s, the benches on the carousel were replaced with cars, and two storks were also placed on the carousel. Originally a carousel, and here I will allow myself to read out the permission for the construction of this attraction - it has been preserved since 1894, and so the carousel was originally launched by the efforts of a servant running around it. The document says that due to inconvenience, the owner equipped the carousel with a mechanical drive.