Lighting Ceremony

The Olympic flame: A symbol of peace

During the ancient Olympic Games, the Olympic flame was ignited by the sun's rays and remained lit throughout the Games in a sanctuary in Olympia known as the Prytaneum. For the ancient Greeks, fire was the creative element of the world and civilization.

The Olympic flame has been a symbol of peace and friendship among nations since antiquity. To ensure its purity, the flame is always lit by the sun's rays caught in the center of a parabolic mirror.

The idea for the lighting ceremony in Olympia, as well as the concept of the torch relay, is attributed to Carl Diem (1882-1962) (a member of the Organising Committee for the Games of the XI Olympiad) and was first implemented at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin. Since then, the lighting of the flame and the torch relay have taken place at every Olympics.

The journey of the Olympic flame from Olympia to the host city of the Games and the Olympic Torch Relay has become one of the most symbolic events associated with the Olympics. Like the Olympic messengers of old who proclaimed the ekecheiria, or 'sacred truce', the relay runners who pass on the Olympic flame bring a message of peace with them along their path.

The lighting ceremony

A few months before the opening of the Games, the Hellenic Olympic Committee holds a ceremony at the ancient site of the Olympic Games in Olympia, Greece.

The flame is lit by the high priestess who, in front of the ruins of the temple of Hera, asks Apollo, the god of the sun, for help in lighting her torch with the sun's rays caught on a parabolic mirror.

The high priestess is accompanied by priestesses and Kouroi, represented by a group of young Greek dancers who perform a choreography inspired by ancient times.

The Olympic flame is then placed in an urn and brought to the ancient stadium by Hestiada (the priestess keeper of the fire), where it is handed over by the high priestess to the first torchbearer along with an olive branch—a universal symbol of peace.

Thus begins the start of the Olympic Torch Relay, which will see the flame travel from ancient Olympia to the host city of the modern Olympic Games!