Olympic cauldron: 5 things to know about the return of the Olympic flame to the Parisian sky

The one who lit up the sky during the Olympic and Paralympic Games in 2024 will be back from the Fête de la Musique on Saturday, June 21.

The Paris cauldron, created by designer Mathieu Lehanneur, will shine again every evening, weather permitting, at a height of 60 meters, until the sports festival on September 14. This initiative will be repeated every summer until the Los Angeles Games in 2028.

The cauldron will rise at 9 p.m. and illuminate the capital's sky until 1 a.m. every evening from June 21 to September 14.

Like last year, it will remain in the Tuileries Gardens during the day. Visitors can then approach it from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m., this time without prior reservation. The park will be open until 10:30 p.m. in late June and early July, 9:30 p.m. in August, and 8:30 p.m. in September.

Two special evenings are being considered, one for the national holiday on July 14, and one to celebrate the first anniversary of the Paris Games on July 26.

Although the structure and operation of the cauldron are identical to last year's, some changes have had to be made. This concerns, first of all, its name: officially, it should no longer be called the "Olympic cauldron" but rather the "Paris 2024 cauldron."

The color of its flame will also be different. Not orange as at the Olympic Games, but rather white, as was the case for the " Parade of Champions " on September 14.

"For its rebirth, we had to make sure that it changed as little as possible and that everything that had changed was invisible. It's like a magic trick in which there is a lot of machinery," explains its creator Mathieu Lehanneur. The basin, originally designed to fly for only thirty days, the duration of the Games, will ultimately function ten times longer. When this decision was made, " we had to review the entire technical aspect," adds the designer.

The technical side of the cauldron is quite complex. While it may seem rather light, carried by the winds, the balloon, filled with 6,200 cubic meters of helium, actually carries more than three tons. In addition to the seven-meter diameter cauldron, cables and other ancillary elements also need to be lifted. Five technicians will work every evening to slow the balloon as it ascends and pull on it as it descends .

The ingenuity of the basin lies in its flame . It's not fire, but a mist of water illuminated by powerful electric spotlights. Fans give the impression that the flames are dancing. This technique is " completely carbon-free, patented by EDF," assures Julien Villeret, the group's director of innovation.

Still with an eco-responsible perspective, nearly 80% of the helium contained in the cauldron was recovered during its dismantling last September.

Beyond the legacy of the Games, the cauldron also pays tribute to the history of the Tuileries Gardens. On December 1, 1783, one of the first hydrogen balloon flights in history took place here.

On a commemorative plaque placed at the main entrance to the garden, near Place Concorde, the Aero Club de France had inscribed: "The physicist AC Charles and Marie-Noël Robert in the basket of the first large hydrogen balloon." In fact, the Montgolfier brothers had stolen the limelight a few months earlier, by taking off in a similar aircraft from Versailles.

In 1878, engineer Henri Giffard rose to a height of over 500 meters in a balloon from the Tuileries, with 50 people on board, including Victor Hugo and Sarah Bernhardt . The garden also hosted the first edition of the Gordon Bennett Cup in 1906, the oldest gas balloon competition.

The cauldron's lifespan has been extended until the next Games in 2028. However, nothing has yet been decided about what happens next. It could be displayed elsewhere, notably at Hangar Y in Meudon, as was suggested a few months ago.

This was, in any case, the wish of the site's general manager, Jean-Michel Crovesi. Hangar Y is a place steeped in history: it was designed in 1879 by architect Henri De Dion, Gustave Eiffel's teacher. It is also the world's first airship hangar.

Given its success in France and abroad, many would like to see the basin preserved. But this obviously comes at a cost. According to the Sortiraparis website, each re-inflating of the basin costs €300,000, and it requires more than a million euros per year for maintenance.