Olympic 2024: Valuable elements of art and culture from the Paris 2024 opening ceremony video.

"...The opening ceremony of the 33rd Olympic Games in Paris has now passed, and Paris, a land rich in artistic and cultural heritage across all fields, ensured that the opening video was nothing short of extraordinary. The organizers, Paris 2024, skillfully incorporated various artistic and cultural elements. In fact, even the Mona Lisa herself left the Louvre Museum to witness the Olympic Games..."

 _{Image Courtesy of Markus Gilliar – GES Sportfoto/Getty Images.}

The opening ceremony of the Olympic Games in Paris, France, held on July 26, has now concluded. Today, #legend_th has gathered and presented the heritage and cultural elements directly from France for all to enjoy. The ceremony began with the grand parade of athletes from various countries, with over 300,000 spectators lining the banks of the Seine River. Instead of the traditional parade on foot, the organizers chose to have the athletes travel by boat along the Seine. This decision highlighted the importance of the river, a significant feature for Parisians both historically and today. Another key highlight was the Olympic torchbearer. For Paris 2024, a mysterious young man wearing a mask and costume reminiscent of the famous French literary character Arsène Lupin and the globally renowned figure from Gaston Leroux's "The Phantom of the Opera" was chosen. This choice added a touch of literary elegance and intrigue to the ceremony.

_{Image Courtesy of Peter Cziborra – Pool/Getty Images}

The mysterious young man leaped onto the rooftops of Parisian buildings, including the Musée d’Orsay, home to numerous world-renowned artworks, and then entered the Louvre Museum, which houses invaluable masterpieces. Among these are "The Raft of the Medusa" by Théodore Géricault, a leading figure of Romantic art, and "The Coronation of Napoleon" by Jacques-Louis David, a pioneer of Neoclassicism. In the video, we see figures from these masterpieces come to life and slowly emerge from their paintings. This creative depiction symbolises the grandeur and allure of the Olympic Games, suggesting that even the iconic figures from world-renowned art are captivated and drawn to witness the opening ceremony with their own eyes.

The torchbearer stops in front of the world-famous "Mona Lisa," created by the Renaissance master Leonardo da Vinci, a work that many travel to France specifically to see. In the video, the glass covering the painting shatters, and the Mona Lisa disappears from the Louvre Museum. The video reveals that the thieves behind this heist are the Minions from the "Despicable Me" franchise, produced by the French studio Illumination. Moreover, The video also features elements from Georges Méliès's film "A Trip to the Moon" and the Lumière brothers' "The Arrival of a Train," pioneers in early film technology. These references highlight the transition from world-renowned paintings to modern cinema, celebrating the broad spectrum of French artistic and cultural heritage.

Also See: Olympic 2024: All the elegant outfits from the opening ceremony