2016 Summer Olympics cauldron

The Olympic Cauldron, in Rio de Janeiro

The Olympic cauldron of Rio 2016 is an astonishing kinetic sculpture installed near the Candelária Church, where the flame of the Games burned. The Rio de Janeiro audio-guided tour stops here to evoke this souvenir of the Olympic Games, a moving work of art in the heart of the town.

The souvenir of the Olympic Games of 2016

This strange sculpture, which recalls the children's games blowing on pinwheels, is none other than the cauldron that hosted the Olympic flame of Rio 2016. After the opening ceremony, which took place at the legendary Maracanã stadium, the flame was transported to this location, near the Candelária Church, where it burned during the whole duration of the Summer Olympic Games of 2016, the first Games organised in South America. The cauldron itself is sober and of modest size, but it is sublimated by a spectacular kinetic sculpture that accompanies it: a great metal structure made of mobile spheres and mirrors that whirl at the mercy of the wind, reflecting the flames and the light of the sun in a play of sparkling glints, evoking the movement and the energy. This work, at once poetic and ecological in its symbol, wanted to represent a modern and sustainable flame. Kept after the Games, it has become a souvenir of this planetary event and a point of interest of the centre. An Olympic souvenir and a kinetic work, the Olympic cauldron is an original stop of the discovery of Rio de Janeiro.

What to see

Here you discover the cauldron that hosted the Olympic flame of Rio 2016, near the Candelária Church, where the flame burned during the Games after the opening ceremony at Maracanã; sober, it is sublimated by a spectacular kinetic sculpture of mobile spheres and mirrors that whirl in the wind and reflect the light, symbol of a modern and sustainable flame, kept as a souvenir of these first Games of South America. The Olympic cauldron is a souvenir of the Games in Rio. It is an original stop, to be explored on foot.

Practical information

The Olympic cauldron lies near the Candelária Church, in the centre of Rio de Janeiro, reachable on foot and by metro. It is an open-air work, freely visible. You discover it during a walk in the district; the kinetic sculpture is particularly beautiful in sunny and windy weather.

What is the Olympic cauldron in Rio de Janeiro?

The cauldron that hosted the Olympic flame of Rio 2016, near the Candelária Church, where it burned during the Games after the opening ceremony at Maracanã; sober, it is accompanied by a spectacular kinetic sculpture of mobile spheres and mirrors that whirl in the wind and reflect the light, symbol of a modern and sustainable flame.

Where is the Olympic cauldron in Rio de Janeiro?

Near the Candelária Church, in the centre of Rio de Janeiro, in Brazil.