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Annonay

ANNONAY BIRTHPLACE OF THE HOT AIR BALLOON

On the 7th of June 1783, the Montgolfier brothers took off in the very first hot air balloon. Ever since that very first flight, every year, on the first weekend of June, a festival has been taking place to celebrate the event, with period costumes and the release of a paper balloon from the city square of Annonay. Later in the 19th-century, Marc Seguin, nephew of the inventors, took after his uncles and invented a tubular boiler that revolutionized rail and sea transport; his suspension bridges were also imitated all over the world. Since June 2002, Annonay has been classified as a historic airbase by the Americans.

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