Olympic Cauldron open for public viewing by day, takes flight by night
The Olympic Cauldron, the 98-foot-tall balloon of the Paris 2024 Games, is open as a free, limited-time tourist attraction.
Flames and flight at the Olympic Cauldron
The perennial Olympic Cauldron will double as a photo-op for those visiting Paris during the summer Olympics. Revealed during a surprise moment in the finale of the opening ceremonies on July 26, the 2024 Olympic Games’ Cauldron takes the form of a balloon measuring 98 feet tall with a diameter of 23 feet. French athletes Marie-José Pérec (track and field) and Teddy Riner (Judo) lit the Cauldron at the conclusion of the Olympic Flame torch relay.
The Olympics balloon will be available for viewing in the Tuileries Garden from July 27 – Aug. 11, 2024, the entire length of the Games. Free ticket reservations are required. The limited-time attraction will run 11 a.m. – 7 p.m., with an expected daily capacity of 10,000 people. From sunset until 2 a.m. each evening, the balloon will ascend up to 197 feet into the air.
‘Light, magical, and unifying’
The Olympics balloon was created by French designer Mathieu Lehanneur.
“Light, magical, and unifying, it will be a beacon in the night and a sun within reach during the day,” Lehanneur said.
This is the first Olympic Flame to ignite without fuel.
“With a flying Cauldron,” said Tony Estanguet, president of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, “we wanted to pay tribute to the spirit of daring, creativity, innovation — and sometimes madness! — of France, at the heart of the DNA of Paris 2024. The Cauldron is also the symbol of our slogan: Games Wide Open.”
Included with each visitor’s Olympics balloon viewing reservation is admission to “Empreintes 1924-2024: 100 Ans D’héritage Olympique” (which translates to “Footprints: 1924-2024, 100 Years of Olympic Heritage”), an exhibit in the Tuileries Garden curated by the French National Olympic and Sports Committee and the Métropole du Grand Paris.
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