“Wow! “ Every evening during the Games, the same emotional clamour resounded throughout the night as the Olympic cauldron rose 60 metres into the sky over Paris. Gathered behind the gates of the Tuileries Garden, just a stone’s throw from the Louvre, a dense crowd spontaneously let out this long cry, a sign of wonder at the take-off of what was one of the true stars of the Games. From 26 July, this gigantic carriage, an aluminium ring carried by a balloon, aroused an enthusiasm that its own designers had not expected. As soon as tickets were available for access to the installation during the day, they sold out in the blink of an eye. In total, more than 320,000 people were able to go to the place where the flame was burning.
And then? This fiery appearance, produced without fuel thanks to the nebulization of water particles on rays of light, so well lit up the spectators that the mayor of Paris quickly spoke out in favor of maintaining it beyond the duration of the competitions. From 1Ahem In August, Anne Hidalgo wrote to the President of the Republic to suggest that certain traces of the Games be preserved as a legacy: “I hope that in its public spaces, its streets, its gardens and its museums, Paris, its women and men, residents or passing through, will be remembered for this historic moment.”
Among these relics are the ten statues of women presented during the opening ceremony, the Olympic rings fixed to the Eiffel Tower and, therefore, the washbasin designed by the designer Mathieu Lehanneur, with the assistance of EDF engineers and technicians. Regarding the latter, the Mayor explains in her letter that “The city of Paris will support any initiative that allows this experience to continue”However, the idea raises a series of technical, financial and heritage problems.
An object not designed to last
In a turbulent political context, where many actors in the sporting and cultural scene are leaving, opinions are being expressed calmly. In reality, the fate of the basin depends on the city of Paris but also, and above all, on the State, that is to say, the Ministry of Culture and the Elysée. And the truth is that this was not designed to last. It was, initially, an ephemeral device imagined “playing with the sun”, According to Mr. Lehanneur, who ultimately saw it promised, “dismantling and recycling”. In the end, she had to participate in what Thierry Reboul, director of the Paris 2024 JOP ceremonies, calls “the intangible heritage of the Games”. That is, images bequeathed to posterity.
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