By IANS
Kolkata : The Olympic lantern and the cauldron, designed by Lenovo for the torch relay from Olympia, is to reach New Delhi April 17.
“The lantern will house the Olympic flame once it is lit in Olympia, and safely carries the ‘mother flame’ from city to city during the entire relay,” a Lenovo spokesperson said here.
The lantern will be lit April 17 by the last torchbearer during the relay in New Delhi. The Lenovo design extends the ‘Cloud of Promise’ design motif from the Olympic torch to the lantern and the cauldron.
Designers drew their inspiration for the lantern from the traditional lanterns that once adorned the walls of ancient Chinese palaces, the spokesperson said.
The lantern represents a striking integration of beauty and functionality – its silver lustre, coupled with a section of clear glass surrounding the flame, conveys the purity and spirit of the Olympic Games. Its practical construction allows it to be quickly dismantled and cleaned – an important feature for the lamp that will need to be cleaned repeatedly during the torch relay.
With the help of specialists in history and anthropology, Lenovo’s design team based the Olympic cauldron on the ancient concept of a “round heaven and square earth”, the same philosophy that inspired the design of China’s renowned Temple of Heaven.
While its shape emulates that of a typical cauldron from the Chinese Bronze Age, the 56 swirling clouds engraved on its curved plate give the cauldron a distinctly modern feel, and represents best wishes for China’s 56 ethnic groups.
The cauldron’s base, with its four legs and eight faces, symbolises the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games welcoming friends from all around the world. The Olympic cauldron stands 130 cm high, symbolising the 130-day duration of the torch relay.