The Olympic Flame was taken from the Cauldron on 29 July and placed in a special miners lantern overnight before work began to move Thomas Heatherwick’s spectacular structure from its Ceremony position in the centre of the field of play.
The Cauldron, measuring 8.5 metres, is made up of 204 steel pipes and individually designed copper petals inscribed with the competing nation’s names, has been relocated at the south end of the Stadium within eyesight of competing athletes, as an echo of the cauldron location at Wembley for the London 1948 Games.
During an 80-hour transition of the Stadium from Danny Boyle’s spectacular set for the Opening Ceremony to an Olympic sporting area for athletes from around the world, the Cauldron was relit.
In a small ceremony the Olympic Flame was transferred from the miners lamp to the Olympic Torchbearer Austin Playfoot who then lit the Olympic Cauldron using the Olympic Torch.
Austin Playfoot, London 1948 and London 2012 Torchbeaer said: ‘It was an honour to be asked to perform this important task of relighting the Cauldron in its resting position. When I ran with the Olympic Flame in Guildford I never thought I would get this close to the Cauldron, it brought me to tears when it lit up. It will be an incredible inspiration to the competing athletes here at the heart of the Olympic Park in the Stadium.’
During the first week of the Games will be projected on the Stadium's big rooftop screens.
Live footage of the Cauldron will be projected onto the Stadium's rooftop screens during the first week of the Games.
At the end of the Games, each team will take their petal home and the Cauldron will cease to exist.
The Olympic Flame was seen by nearly 15 million people on its 70 day-journey around the UK, and by a worldwide TV audience of around one billion people in the Opening Ceremony.
View a gallery of the London 2012 Olympic Opening Ceremony
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