olympic fire. We explain to you why she travels in a miner’s lamp

From Athens to Marseille, aboard the Belem, the Olympic flame had to be protected by a lantern similar to that used by underground miners.

Every good northerner must track down traces of their cultural heritage wherever they go. Thus, the most observant will have recognized a miner’s lamp that was used to preserve the Olympic flame on the journey from Athens to Marseille at Belem.

In recent days, it is certainly the most photographed and filmed object. About twenty centimeters high, a structure made of metal and a glass plate. Nothing more functional than encasing a sacred flame. The object, chosen by the Olympic Organizing Committee, is a direct legacy of the mining past.

During its 12-day crossing aboard Belem, three guards are responsible for yourkeep the flame on all the time. From the deck to the holds, via the galleys, they descend into the bowels of the ship and move the Olympic torch by means of a handle, like miners descending to the bottom.

Regularly, they open the small glass box with a key and refill the lantern tank with 50 milliliters of liquid kerosene. The wick is changed every two weeks. Enough to keep the flame alive. Without knowing it, they reproduce an ancestral gesture.

A lantern from the end of the 19th century

For the model that protects the flame is a modern version of the safety lamps, which appeared in the mines of Nord and Pas-de-Calais at the end of the 19th century, in the middle of the industrial revolution. They were used to enlighten the miner, but above all to protect him from accidents.

By adding a diaphragm, a screen and a protective glass, the engineers of the time made these safety lamps completely airtight to avoid, as much as possible, shots of flames. The miner’s flame, a source of light, thus becomes protective. The most effective design known to date for protecting a small, fragile flame from the elements.

Precisely, salt, moisture, water and strong wind are all threats to every seafarer and perhaps even more so to the flame on board Belem. The miners’ lantern is then used to protect it. A protocol is even planned in case of extreme winds. The lantern must be brought into the ship and covered with a Plexiglas box.

Furthermore, on a boat, especially on a three-masted wooden frame, fire can quickly become a deadly enemy. So Belem’s protective lantern is even equipped with particle filters that reduce smoke emissions and limit any risk of fire starting.

Maximum security therefore. And if, despite these measures, the flame should go out, another is contained in another miner’s lantern and hidden in an undisclosed location. Finally, two other flames are flown in from Greece. As was the case in 1968 for the Olympic Games in Grenoble.

At that time, to cross the Mediterranean to France, the plane was preferred to the boat. Here, too, account must be taken of specific travel restrictions. The Olympic Committee then decided to order 5 miners’ lamps to protect the flame. Five objects engraved with the Olympic rings and the inscription “Grenoble 1968”.

A story about the protection of this flame that has become tradition, regional heritage. From Olympia to Marseille, Belem succeeded in his mission of escorting the Olympic flame, greatly aided by this little object which went unnoticed. Apart from the northern spectators, the memory of the hundreds of thousands of regional miners is thus revived.