Depiction of the Great Firework Displayed in Saint Petersburg on the Evening of the New Year 1755 upon the River Neva Before the Winter House of Her Imperial Majesty

The explanatory sheet states that the great firework was given in honour of Her Imperial Majesty Elizabeth I, Autocrat of All the Russias, and in token of the most humble and most zealous congratulations on the entry into the new year from all the loyal subjects of the Russian Empire.

The firework began after a signal of 21 cannon shots. From either side Aurora and Iris appeared on triumphal chariots. On the main plan, in the likeness of an amphitheatre, were displayed the arms of the provinces of the Russian Empire, the heraldic shields of the Grand Principality of Moscow and of the Tsardoms of Kazan, Astrakhan and Siberia, and in the centre a magnificent pillar bearing a shield with the name of the Empress and of their Imperial Highnesses.

The four tsardoms come out of four portals, approaching the middle pillar with censers. Above the columns of incense the number 1755 can be seen in the sky, and the demigoddess Time appears with an hourglass on her head. She turns the wheel of the Zodiac with its twelve heavenly signs, in which a sun revolves, while with her other hand she scatters from a horn of plenty flowers and fruit upon the shield of Her Imperial Majesty; these fall upon the remaining shields and upon the state arms. With the appearance of this figure an eagle flies up from the lowest step and settles on a palm tree.

After the figures on the shields have burnt away, the second, third, fourth and fifth acts of the firework begin, with brilliant, fountain, thundering and ascending fires, depicting a sparkling garden, a fiery basin, a statue with a fiery fountain, and fiery cascades that set in motion fiery wheels, like rivers of fire. In the front part of the garden is a fiery carousel with the sun in a chariot drawn by four horses; around it are rockets and leaping fires, and from above rain down exploding stars.

When the fires subside, peacock tails of rockets rise up from behind across the whole horizon, together with mortar shots scattering stars. The firework ends with a salvo of 31 cannon shots. After its conclusion the illumination of the main plan burns all night.