Catherine Wheels are among the world’s most iconic fireworks. Named for Catherine of Alexandria, who according to legend was condemned to death by ‘breaking on the wheel’ only for the wheel to break when she touched it, Catherine Wheels are popular at small garden displays as well as larger public displays.
From a consumer perspective Catherine Wheels are easy to set up and use, and are excellent if you want to host your own fireworks display but are constrained by your budget.
Although most of us are familiar with smaller Catherine Wheels, the world record for the world’s largest version of this popular firework shows that they don’t always have to be small sources of firework fun.
The World’s Largest Catherine Wheel
Although details of larger Catherine Wheels that have been created throughout history are sketchy, we do know that the world’s largest Catherine Wheel was produced by Lily Fireworks, who are based in Mqabba, a small town in southern Malta a short distance outside of the capital, Valletta.
A verified Guinness World Record, this Catherine Wheel was over 32 metres in diameter, and managed four full revolutions under its own propulsion. Anyone who knows even a little behind the science involved with fireworks will understand just how impressive that is! This record, set in June 2011, is now almost five years old, with nothing even coming close to beating it in recent years.
Read the Guinness World Records entry about this world record here.
You can also check out the video at the bottom of this post.
In the run up to Bonfire Night 2015 we produced a cool infographic looking at some of our favourite fireworks world records. It goes to show you how quickly records move on, and how competitive the fireworks display industry is, when you consider some of these records have already been broken!
Check out our Guinness World Records infographic here.
