The flame that will burn at the Paris Olympics has been lit at Greece’s ancient games.
During one ceremony, an actress dressed as a Greek priestess intended to use the sun to light the silver torch, but the cloudy sky meant a flame of relief ignited it.
Thousands of spectators turned out to witness the event, in which the priestess led a symbolic prayer to Apollo, the ancient Greek sun god.
The flame will be transported from the ruined sports fields of ancient Olympia, birthplace of the games, via a relay of torchbearers on an 11-day adventure of more than 5,000 kilometers through Greece to reach Paris. Athens on April 26.
The flame will then depart from the Athenian port of Piraeus aboard the three-masted French ship Belem, built in 1896, the first year of the games in Athens.
It is expected to arrive at the port of Marseille in southern France, a city founded by Greek settlers about 2,600 years ago, on May 8, according to Captain Aymeric Gibet.
In Paris, the flame will pass in front of the 2015 bombing at the Bataclan concert hall, as well as in front of the Shoah Memorial, Mayor Anne Hidalgo said.
Paris City Hall, which will host the flame on July 14 at the July 14 birthday party in France, will remain open all afternoon so that “visitors and Parisians can see this symbol of fraternal transmission all over the planet,” Hidalgo added.