Paris Olympics' metal horse goes on tour around France (and Germany)

Local Germany

24-02-2025

One of the most astounding – and eerie – moments of the Opening Ceremony of the Paris Olympic Games last summer (really, it was just last summer) was the ghostly mechanical horse galloping for six kilometres down the Seine with the Olympic flag-wrapped rider on its back.
It was not – despite bursts of already heightened social media hysteria at the time – a reference to the pale rider of the apocalypse, but rather a representation of Sequana, the goddess of the Seine, who was worshipped by pre-Roman Gaulish tribes. Not everything needs a biblical reference, you see – in fact it wasn't even the only non-biblical reference in the ceremony.
From March, the metal horse – whose name is Zeus, by the way – who amazed more than one billion television viewers during the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games will travel around France, taking in stops in Montpellier, Lyon, Marseille, Bordeaux, Nantes and Rouen.
After being admired in the courtyard of the Hôtel de Ville in Paris, and causing a sensation at the Palace of Versailles throughout the month of October, Zeus has been back with its creators, Nantes-based Atelier Blam, for a few weeks to be completely refurbished, before its grand tour of the country.
The travelling exhibition will start on Monday, March 11th, when Zeus will go on display at Porte Maillot, in the 17th arrondissement of Paris. It will then set off across France, with stops in major cities and emblematic heritage sites, throughout the spring and summer.
After Porte Maillot, Zeus heads south for nine days in Montpellier, from March 5th to 14th, before heading to Lyon, Marseille, Bordeaux, and Rouen.
The silver horse will even cross the Rhine to Frankfurt before returning to France and a summer spell on Mont-Saint-Michel.
Zeus will be accompanied on certain sections of his route by the Science Lab, a 'travelling and educational' exhibition, the horse's owners Sanofi said in a press release, 'which will invite the public to discover the process of creating the medicines and vaccines of tomorrow.'
The company explained: 'The metal horse will stop in towns near Sanofi sites and at emblematic places of French heritage.'
After the tour the horse will return to Paris.
Zeus Tour Dates
March 3rd – Porte Maillot, Paris
March 5th to 14th – Montpellier, Promenade du Peyrou
March 17th to April 2nd – Lyon, City Hall
April 16th to 26th – Marseille (venue to be confirmed)
May 3rd to 9th – Bordeaux (venue to be confirmed)
May 12th to 23rd – Rouen (venue to be confirmed)
June 17th to 27th – Frankfurt (venue to be confirmed)
July 12th to September 7th – Mont-Saint-Michel, belvedere of the Abbey
September 19th to 29th –