Could the Milan Cortina brazier be displayed in a museum after the Games?

The Olympic brazier for the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Games could remain in Milan even after the event is over. The hypothesis was put forward by Mayor Giuseppe Sala on the sidelines of the Your Next Milano event, dedicated to the impact of the Olympic Games on the city’s GDP. The idea, the first citizen explained, is that the brazier now located at the Arch of Peace could find a permanent home in a Milanese museum. “I hope it will remain in a Milanese museum, we are working on it and we are reasoning about where it could stay,” he said, clarifying that there is no official destination yet but that the administration’s will is not to make it disappear after the end of the Games.

The Milan Cortina 2026 Braziers represent a first in the history of the Winter Olympics and Paralympics: for the first time, in fact, the flame burns simultaneously in two different cities. In Milan, the brazier is located at the Arco della Pace, while in Cortina d’Ampezzo it is placed in Piazza Dibona. The two braziers lit and will extinguish in synchrony, symbolizing the constant dialogue between different territories that characterizes this widespread edition of the Games.

Realized thanks to a partnership with Fincantieri, sponsor of Milano Cortina 2026, the braziers are the result of a project by Marco Balich in collaboration with Lida Castelli and Paolo Fantin. The concept pays tribute to the sun as the primary source of life, energy and renewal. For centuries a universal emblem of continuity and rebirth, the Olympic Flame is reinterpreted as the heart of a creation designed for the future.

The design recalls the genius of Leonardo da Vinci and his famous Knots, geometric interweavings that symbolize the harmony between nature and human ingenuity. It is an explicit tribute to the historical link between Leonardo and Milan, a city that symbolizes creativity and innovation. From a technical point of view, the braziers are made of aeronautical aluminum, one of the strongest and lightest materials, and are configured as dynamic structures capable of generating an opening and closing movement. This movement is thought of as a metaphor for the continuity of time and the natural alternation between day and night.

The geometry of the structure is variable: the diameter expands from 3.1 meters in closing to 4.5 meters in opening. The mechanical system that enables this transformation integrates 244 pivot points and 1,440 components mounted on pivots and bearings, resulting in a complex scenic and engineering device. Inside, the Flame is enclosed in a glass and metal container and uses sustainable scenic effects, with no material spillover, low noise impact, minimal smoke emissions and total safety for public contact environments.

The lighting last Feb. 6 marked the conclusion of the Olympic Flame Journey, a 63-day journey through Italy that touched 60 cities, covering 12,000 kilometers in all 110 provinces of the Peninsula. It was one of the most symbolic and intense moments of the Milan Cortina 2026 Opening Ceremony, a shared gesture that officially marked the start of the Winter Olympic Games, celebrating unity, continuity and energy. In that instant, the Flame rose to illuminate Milan, Cortina d’Ampezzo and the world, inviting citizens and visitors to be part of a historic occasion.

Starting Feb. 7, the brazier at the Arco della Pace is the protagonist of a daily event open to all. Each day, at the stroke of every hour from 5 to 11 p.m., a show lasting between three and five minutes will be staged, accompanied by music by Roberto Cacciapaglia. The ritual will be repeated until the Olympic Flame is extinguished on Feb. 22. Then, on March 6, with the arrival of the Paralympic Flame and at the Paralympic Opening Ceremony, the two braziers will return to burn for the entire duration of the Paralympic Games, before finally extinguishing on March 15 at the end of the Closing Ceremony.

The Peace Arch brazier is not intended to be a permanent installation. After the Olympics it will be turned back on for the Paralympics and then shut down permanently at the conclusion of the Paralympic Games. At that point the game will open on its final destination. The hypothesis at the moment is preservation in Milan with a museum location yet to be defined. The City is considering possible locations, but no museum has been officially announced. Nor are there any hypotheses at the moment, although the most plausible destination is the Triennale , which houses a museum dedicated to design: this could be the most suitable venue for the symbol of the Milan and Cortina Olympics.

In any case, the administration’s line is clear: to prevent such a powerful and innovative symbol from being dismantled or dispersed. If the project goes through, the brazier could become a permanent element of the city’s Olympic memory, a witness to an edition of the Games that has chosen the widespread formula and dialogue between territories as its identity figure. The final decision will come only when a formal agreement on the exhibition venue is reached, but the intention to keep one of the most iconic symbols of Milan Cortina 2026 in Milan has already been put in black and white in the mayor’s words.

Could the Milan Cortina brazier be displayed in a museum after the Games?

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