Paris 2024 unveils cauldron that will appear across France with Olympic Flame

France has unveiled the cauldrons that will be lit up with the Olympic flame in each stopover city as the flame travels across France before the games.

The flame will arrive in France on Wednesday 8 May 2024 after being transported by boat to Marseille. Imagined by Mathieu Lehanneur and manufactured by ArcelorMittal, Official Partner of Paris 2024, these cauldrons will keep the flame lit while the 10,000 bearers of the flame get some rest.

Lehanneur said: "The Torch, the Cauldron, and the Basin are not separate objects. They are chapters of one big story. Everyone embodies the spirit of these Paris Games. The Cauldron takes the form of a ring of fire suspended above a liquid relief. Both pure and magical, it seems to float and is reflected in its metal base. If the Torch is a sacred fire that is transmitted, the Cauldron around which we gather and which unites energies."

At each stopover city, the last bearer of the Flame of the day will ignite the Cauldron on the site of the celebrations, the true climax of the festival.

Tony Estanguet, president of Paris 2024 added: "Each day, during the Torch Relay, the lighting of the Cauldron by the last bearer of the Flame of the day will be a highlight. In each stopover city, the Cauldron will be a real meeting point to end these days of celebration and communion in style. We invite everyone to come together, to share all the emotions that we will experience with the Torch Relay and to celebrate, together, the arrival of the Games in France."

It will not be until the last day of the Torch Relay, 26 July, 2024, that the Vasque will replace the Cauldron to open the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. The Paralympic Torch Relay which will leave from Stoke Mandeville in England, the historic cradle of Paralympic sport. Arriving in France in Calais on 25 August, the Paralympic Flame will multiply into twelve Flames spread across the outskirts of France. These Flames will light a Cauldron in each stopover city, before coming together to ignite the Vasque in Paris, on 28 August.