All slots to admire the Olympic cauldron at the Tuileries are reserved until the end of the Games

Mathieu Lehanneur, the designer of the basin, told franceinfo that “petitions are being set up” so that it can remain in place after the Games.

The hot air balloon-shaped cauldron lit at the Tuileries in Paris during the opening ceremony on Friday is a victim of its own success: all the reservation slots to go and see it are full until the end of the Games, Mathieu Lehanneur, designer of the flame and the cauldron, confirmed to franceinfo on Sunday July 28.

Some people therefore hope that it can remain there after the Games so that it can still be admired. Mathieu Lehanneur affirms that“There are petitions being set up”. He confides however that he is not “decision maker” and to have “little power to decide whether she stays or not.”

Asked whether he would like her to stay after the Games, he said yes: “In my wildest dreams, of course.” He explains that he spoke “to many visitors who were there and who adopted the basin immediately. They tell me that they are extremely moved to see it and that they are also extremely proud”. Words that touch the designer who confides that he is “the first surprised”.

He now dreams that his basin will have the same fate as the Eiffel Tower: “We have the sublime Iron Lady who lived the same story, who was not there to last and who is ultimately still there and who has become a very strong symbol”.