Conquests and Conquerors: Fêtes de Genève

Fêtes de Genève, a free 4 week festival complete with carnivals, concerts, and performers sprawled over the Old Town of Geneva, concluded this Saturday with its annual fireworks display. Last Saturday, August 3rd, was the first round of fireworks: a 20 minute display behind the jet d'eau. August 1st in the Swiss national day (the equivalent to our 4th of July), so these fireworks were meant to celebrate the national holiday. It was a pretty typical fireworks display, but the presence of the jet d'eau in front of it was absolutely spectacular.

The jet d'eau and the Jardin Anglais before the show

Fireworks behind the jet d'eau

"Mini" carnival & amusement park lining Lake Geneva

While fireworks behind the jet d'eau may have been magnificent, they were nothing compared to the following weekend's show. Geneva is known for this annual show, which consists of a one hour 360 degree firework display above Lake Geneva, choreographed with accompanying live music. The press release this year predicted over 500,000 spectators. Fireworks were shot from 33 firing posts by 30 "international pyrotechnicians," issuing over 4,000 firing commands synchronized to 1/10th  of a second. The displayed rockets ranged from 50 mm in diameter weighing 40 g and ascending to 45 m high to 300 mm in diameter with a weight of 17kg and a 250m ascension.

The show's theme of the year was "Conquerors and Conquests," and as such the music that played reflected this idea; for instance, the music from opening battle scene in Gladiator was played. The event was much more than a display, it was a complete and interactive show. Every 15-20 minutes there would be a pause and a story would be told in relation to the theme, such as Cortes' conquests or Columbus' discovery of the New World. Every aspect of the show was perfectly coordinated and methodically planned out--this was definitely a Swiss event.

Despite this methodical planning and Swiss perfection, you can never account for everything. Forty minutes into the show the fireworks were paused and a voice came on the speakers to announce that there had been "technical difficulties" and that they would need to delay the end of the performance. A quick glance at the lake informed everyone that "technical difficulties" was actually in reference to a fire that had sparked atop one of the firing platforms. All of the platforms were on the lake, so it was only a minor mishap. Within 10 minutes the show was back on and the sky was lit up in every color once more.

The show's finale consisted of more fireworks than I had ever seen in my life, Bastille Day included. The finale began with fireworks being shot on the lake itself so that sparks and explosions were directly on the water. The show then moved overhead to the sky to finish off the finale. Fireworks were shot out everywhere above your head to the point where it sounded like a battle-field, thereby further creating the Conquerors and Conquests environment. By the end of the show, so many explosions had been shot off that debris was raining from the sky, thousands of feet away from where the fireworks were even being shot off. By this point almost all of the platforms had caught fire from the sheer intensity and frequency of the explosions.

After my first weekend into Geneva, for fete de la musique, I wrote about how I had conquered Geneva and finally found my way around the city. As my time here comes to an end, it seems that Geneva and I have come full circle. This show was the perfect reminder of conquering new territories and celebrating success.