Musical accompaniment: Jonathan Scott playing the pipe organ at the Basilica of Our Lady of Licheń.
I wanted some soaring music for this magnificent 1909 picture inside the Salon de Locomotion Aerienne Grand Palais in Paris. I was reading about the pipe organ and found it quite as interesting as the picture!
In the village of Licheń Stary in Poland, population 1500, sits the Basilica of Our Lady of Licheń. Priests of the order of Marian Fathers promote devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary there. Over time, the village and its 17th century oil painting of the Blessed Virgin became a popular destination for Catholic pilgrims and in the 1990s, the old church couldn’t accommodate them. A new church was completed in 2002, and blessed by Pope John Paul II. Inside the basilica is a massive pipe organ designed by Andrzej Chorosiński and built by Zakłady Organowe Zych. The organ has 157 stops, 12,323 pipes, and a 12-second reverberation. It was completed in 2007.
The 1909 picture is the work of an unknown photographer. I love the dirigibles–or are they zeppelins–and the leaded glass windows.
I don’t know if Albert Khan’s 1914 autochrome photo of air balloons was taken in the same place but it looks similar, right?
old spirituals 
A blimp is a non-rigid airship that gets its shape by being filled with lighter-than-air gas. A dirigible (the name comes from the French word for direction) and a zeppelin are both steerable airships. The difference is that a zeppelin has a rigid internal structure; a dirigible may or may not have an internal structure. The air balloon is not steerable; its direction is at the mercy of the wind. An air balloon obtains it lift from heated air. The air ships in the autochrome appear to be air balloons.
The German airship destroyed in 1937 while landing at Lakehurst, New Jersey, after making a transatlantic trip with passengers, was a zeppelin. The modern Goodyear Blimps are steerable airships that at first were without a rigid internal structure. The newer versions are semi-rigid, built by a German zeppelin company. Despite that fact, Goodyear’s airships continue to be referred to as blimps. That label is an integral part of its marketing.
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So then all zeppelins are dirigibles? That would make sense. Can you tell if the airship in the picture is a dirigible or a blimp? I read recently there are only 5 operational blimps. I wonder if that’s true?
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Actually there is a German company, Luftschiffbau Zeppelin GmbH, that still produces zeppelins, the same company that produced the Hindenburg and the Graf Zeppelin in the 1930s. It is the company that produced the latest “Goodyear Blimp.” I read that there are approximately 25 “blimps” in existence today, all used for overhead viewing of sporting events and as a flying advertising billboard. The cost to construct, operate and maintain a dirigible/zeppelin/blimp is very expensive. The helium required to fly one can cost $100,000. Lest we not forget the type of facility required to “park” a zeppelin.
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Holy smoke. That is expensive. And I imagine you need some special certification to fly a zeppelin. To your point, you can’t park it in the barn out back, I guess.
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Hate to be a “Debbie Downer” on an otherwise pleasant topic, but a few days ago (June 21, 2025) a “hot air balloon” carrying 21 passengers in the Atlantic coast town of Praia Grande, Brazil, a tourist hot spot popular for hot-air ballooning, caught fire and plummeted to the ground. It was the second hot air balloon accident in the South American country in a week. Fortunately, 13 passengers survived.
Perhaps an inventive entrepreneur will develop an emergency parachute system made of non-flammable material as a safety system in case of balloon failure.
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Yikes! The hot air balloon is about to float off my life list!
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Forgot to point out that the pale yellow balloon in the autochrome photo appears to be one made by Michelin, the French tire manufacturer.
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Same Michelin we use today? That’s fun!
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Yes, one and the same. Goodyear built its first airships in the early 1900s; Michelin built its first later in the century.
I have always avoided flying in anything that doesn’t have wings. Wings at least allow a plane to glide if the engine(s) fail(s). Jets not so much as it depends a great deal on propulsion from its engines to remain in the air. A helicopter’s blades can provide a slower decent through autorotation if its engine fails, assuming the pilot has been properly trained. But the sudden stopped when it hits the ground is more than just a subtle jolt. An airship or an air balloon, without its lighter than air chamber keeping it aloft, drops like a rock to the ground. In the case of an air balloon, the balloon material would provide some “drag” or “resistance” slowing its descent. So the bigger the size, e.g. the basket under the balloon, etc., the more air resistance it will have to slow down the descent.
Just 5 days ago in central Turkey, a large balloon carrying tourists on a sightseeing trip over the landscape of the region was affected by a sudden change in wind that caused it to crash. The pilot was killed and 19 Indonesian tourists were injured.
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Oh my goodness. I’ve always wanted to ride in a hot air balloon but my fear of flying + motion sickness holds me back. Riding in a blimp doesn’t sound attractive to me. But the zeppelins look so cool, it’s unreal. I’ll have to dig up some photos I have of the interiors to post. I wonder if you can ride on them today?
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There are individual air balloon enthusiasts that belong to clubs and other organizations. Also, there are hot air balloon festivals. One is scheduled in Albuquerque, NM, October 4 – 12, 2025. It is a sight to behold when dozens of balloon are in the air. They are colorful and some are characters like the Macy’s Day Parade.
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I used to know someone who worked at that festival. She said it was glorious!
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