The invention of the roller coaster rests on the roots of the "Russian Mountains". Already in the 16th century, when the winter months broke in, the tsar's family wanted to make the funnier everyday life a little more enjoyable with a sled.
However, since there were no mountains around St. Petersburg and Moscow, the aristocrats had wooden ramps built and provided with a layer of ice to slide down with sledges, ice skates, skins or blocks of ice. For the wealthy citizens, this was a lot of fun. The forerunner of the roller coaster quickly gained great popularity.
To make the facilities suitable for the summer, the sledges were taken and replaced by rollers. So the artificial mountains could be driven down even without ice. The French were the first to bring turbulent pleasure to Western Europe. Here the "Russian Mountains" were built larger and more adventurous. However, this leisure activity was not dangerous. Accidents with bruises and fractures occurred more often. The reputation of such facilities deteriorated over time, and soon they were gradually closed down.
Only at the end of the 19th century did the "Russian Mountains" revive and, thanks to imaginative inventions and developments, became what we know as rollercoasters.
