– The very first instruction to designers of London's Olympic cauldron was a blunt directive: no .

London's Olympic cauldron

London's Olympic cauldron

What resulted was an elaborate creation involving 204 moving pieces, each representing the coming together of the competing countries.

Creator Thomas Heatherwick said that test runs on the cauldron were done in in the north of before the assembly was brought to the stadium and discreetly tested this week — but only after airspace restrictions prevented news helicopters from getting an advance look.

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