Just like others celebrate birthdays or Easter, we at Gaisabalons.lv celebrate 11 March – the day when In 1513 Leo X, chosen by the College of Cardinals on 9 March 1513, became Pope. Why? Because at the time of his coronation ,figures of saints filled with hot air were said to have risen into the sky above the Vatican!
Who put them there, in heaven? The official Vatican archives are silent, but history enthusiasts point to a contemporary of the Pope – Leonardo daVinciwho had long been obsessed with the idea of flight in his sketches. Were these the first hot-air figures he designed? Maybe! And if so The first hot air balloon flights took place 270 years before the Montgolfier brothers!
Leo X realised that ascension and ascension – whether as a holy figure, an angel or a happy passenger in a hot air balloon – is a magical sight. So today we thank him !
If you see a saint flying in the sky today, don’t worry.It’s either a divine miracle… or our balloon!
See you upstairs!
– Gaisabalons.lv team
