The Olympic torch will be burnt in the Jardin des Tuileries in front of the Louvre during the Paris Games in July and August, a person involved in the talks told AFP.
The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the decision to place the Olympic cauldron at a tourist spot in the city center was made “a few weeks ago.”
“The Tuileries Museum emerged as the first choice because it is easily accessible to the general public,” the source said.
There was speculation that the torch would be placed in the Eiffel Tower, but organizers were also considering placing it in the courtyard of the Louvre, the world's largest museum.
The Jardin des Tuileries is “an area that is easily secured. Security forces are on standby 24 hours a day to protect the torch, and raised walkways around the gardens allow the general public to view the torch.” can be done,” the official added.
The lighting of the cauldron is a key moment in the Olympic Opening Ceremony, marking the official start of the global sports festival.
It is unclear whether the cauldron will be lit inside the Tuileries Palace or whether it will be transferred to the Tuileries Palace after the unprecedented opening ceremony on July 26, which will be held by boat on the nearby Seine River.
The identity of the person given the honor of lighting the lights remains unknown, but the details of the opening ceremony, which will be held outside an athletics stadium for the first time, are a closely guarded secret.
Organizers have vowed to make the Paris Olympics, the first in 100 years, “symbolic.”
～Symbolic place～
Asked about the cauldron, the Paris organizing committee said in a statement to AFP: “We neither confirm nor deny the circulating reports. There are already many rumors circulating about the cauldron's location.”
The statement added that organizers want the cauldron “to be placed in the center of Paris as a symbol of Paris and visible to all.”
The Paris games will be held in locations near the capital, including a temporary stadium near the Eiffel Tower and Place de la Concorde, next to the Jardin des Tuileries.
The park was designed in 1664 by the so-called “Sun King” Louis XIV, and has close ties to the late French royal family and the anti-monarchist revolution of 1789.
The 2024 Paris Torch Relay will begin on April 16 with the torch being collected from Olympia, Greece, and transported by sea to Marseille on a 19th-century French three-masted sailing ship, the Belmes.
The torch will then travel 12,000 kilometers (7,500 miles) across mainland France and French overseas territories in the Caribbean, Indian Ocean and Pacific Ocean, visiting 400 French towns and dozens of tourist attractions.
At the last Tokyo Olympics, held in 2021 due to the coronavirus pandemic, a hydrogen-powered cauldron was lit by tennis star Naomi Osaka inside the eerily empty main athletics stadium during the opening ceremony. It was conducted.
The second was installed on the waterfront near Tokyo Bay.
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