Zeus, the metal horse from the Olympic opening ceremony, is back at it in March

He had amazed spectators, on the banks of the Seine and on television, on July 26, 2024. After a six-kilometer race on the Seine, the mechanical horse Zeus had brought his rider and the Olympic flag to the Trocadéro, becoming one of the most striking images of the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

At the initiative of Sanofi, owner of the work, Zeus is resuming its course and will begin a French and European tour from March 3. It will stop in cities near the sites of the pharmaceutical laboratory, accompanied by a traveling exhibition on the manufacture of medicines and vaccines, but also in tourist locations such as Mont-Saint-Michel, where it will be installed from July 12 to September 7. First stop: Porte Maillot, in Paris, at the beginning of March. It will then be visible, again free of charge, in Montpellier, on the Promenade du Peyrou, classified as a historic monument. Its course will pass through Lyon, then Marseille in April, Bordeaux and Rouen in May.

This tour will even become European, since Zeus will set up in Frankfurt (Germany) in the second half of June. Created by a Nantes company, Zeus will return to its roots in September, before returning to Paris, in a location still unknown.

With its 1.80 meters at the withers, for 287 kg of aluminum, the sides covered with silver leaf but the mechanisms of the legs visible, this true jewel of art and technology is not comparable to its cousins ​​the "Machines of the island". The Blam workshop, at the origin of the metal horse prefers to call it an "animated sculpture" , symbol of the goddess of the Seine Sequana. With this tour, Zeus will continue the mission given to him by the artistic director of the Paris 2024 ceremonies: to spread the Olympic spirit in his wake.