The Turin 2006 Organizing Committee has unveiled the Olympic cauldron for the Turin Games which will be lit during the Opening Ceremony and will protect and display the Olympic flame during the Games.
Pininfarina, also the designer of the Turin 2006 Olympic torch, designed the cauldron.
Five support columns will rise upwards representing the values of the Olympic spirit. As it rises towards the sky the tension of sports will generate a twist of pure energy that will be transformed immediately into the flame.
With a height of 57 metres, the cauldron is reported to be the tallest cauldron in the history of the Olympic Games. It has three segments of 31, 15 and 11 metres respectively, which will tower out of the Olympic Stadium, which measures only 26 metres in height.
The cauldron will be visible from the entire city and will stand on five tubular structures with a diameter of 60 cm that will rise in a circumference having a three-metre diameter.
A sixth central tube will start from the base and arrive at the summit widening in the last three metres to give space to the burners needed to produce the flame.
The five outside tubes will twist in the final part and will be crossed by the central tube.
The flame is expected to rise to a height of about four metres and will run on methane gas.
