Mathieu Lehanneur's Olympic "flying cauldron" to return to Paris
French president Emmanuel Macron has announced that the cauldron balloon, a symbolic attraction of the Paris 2024 Olympics, will return to Paris every year until the Los Angeles Olympics in 2028.
Originally launched at the start of the Paris Olympics last year, the balloon is set to return on June 21, coinciding with France's Music Day celebrations, and will continue to appear through mid-September each year until 2028.
The cauldron will return to the Jardin des Tuileries, where it was located during the Games as a nod to France's history of flight and hot air balloons.
"She will come back every summer," said Macron on X. "From the music festival to the sports festival, to the Los Angeles Games."
Created by French designer Mathieu Lehanneur, the Olympic cauldron references traditional hot-air balloons and was designed to be "a beacon in the night and a sun within reach".
The balloon measures 30 metres in height and has a seven-metre-wide ring of fire at its base that lights up with a non-combusting "electric flame".
Instead of using fossil fuels, the cauldron balloon is illuminated by 40 LED spotlights that shine through a cloud of mist generated by 200 high-pressure nozzles. Powered entirely by renewable electricity, the Paris cauldron is the first in Olympic history to be lit up without the use of fossil fuels.
The balloon was ignited by French athletes Marie-José Pérec and Teddy Riner during the 2024 opening ceremony, ascending 60 metres into the sky every evening while remaining on the ground during the daytime throughout the Olympics.
The cauldron balloon is the third design that Lehanneur created for the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games, following the torch and the relay cauldron.
Lehanneur's previous works include the transformation of a Renault 4L car and a collection of 3D-printed aluminium sculptures based on population statistics.
The photography is courtesy of the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
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