''Gateway of Dreams'' is a public

monument A monument is a type of structure that was explicitly created to commemorate a person or event, or which has become relevant to a social group as a part of their remembrance of historic times or cultural heritage, due to its artistic, his ...

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. Located in

Centennial Olympic Park Centennial Olympic Park is a public park located in downtown Atlanta, Georgia, owned and operated by the Georgia World Congress Center Authority. It was built by the Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games (ACOG) as part of the infrastructu ...

, the monument honors

Pierre de Coubertin Charles Pierre de Frédy, Baron de Coubertin (; born Pierre de Frédy; ...

, the father of the modern

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a var ...

. The monument was dedicated in 1996.

History

In 1996,

hosted the

Centennial Olympic Games The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...

, located in

downtown Atlanta Downtown Atlanta is the central business district of Atlanta, Georgia, United States. The larger of the city's two other commercial districts ( Midtown and Buckhead), it is the location of many corporate and regional headquarters; city, county, s ...

, was created to memorialize the games and, according to ''

Georgia Trend ''Georgia Trend'' (tagline: ''The Magazine of Georgia Business, Politics & Economic Development Since 1985'') is a monthly business magazine covering business and finance in Georgia. It was established in 1985 by Times Publishing Company, which pub ...

'', is "the centerpiece of the Olympics legacy" in the city. In 1996, the year the park opened, the monument was erected to honor

Pierre de Coubertin Charles Pierre de Frédy, Baron de Coubertin (; born Pierre de Frédy; ...

, who had founded the modern

with the

1896 Summer Olympics The 1896 Summer Olympics ( el, Θερινοί Ολυμπιακοί Αγώνες 1896, Therinoí Olympiakoí Agónes 1896), officially known as the Games of the I Olympiad ( el, Αγώνες της 1ης Ολυμπιάδας, Agónes tis 1is Ol ...

100 years prior. The monument, designed by

Raymond Kaskey Raymond Kaskey (born 1943) is an American sculptor and architect who created ''Portlandia'', a copper statue in Portland, Oregon. Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, he studied architecture at Carnegie Mellon University and Yale University. A fellow ...

, features a

step pyramid A step pyramid or stepped pyramid is an architectural structure that uses flat platforms, or steps, receding from the ground up, to achieve a completed shape similar to a geometric pyramid. Step pyramids are structures which characterized several ...

and the columns of

Boaz and Jachin According to the Bible, Boaz ( he, ''Bōʿaz'') and Jachin ( ''Yāḵīn'') were two copper, brass or bronze pillars which stood on the porch of Solomon's Temple, the first Temple in Jerusalem. They are used as symbols in Freemasonry and sometim ...

in addition to the statue of Coubertin. The monument is one of several in the area that memorialize the Olympic Games, such as The Flair near the former site of the

Georgia Dome The Georgia Dome was a domed stadium in the Southeastern United States. Located in Atlanta between downtown to the east and Vine City to the west, it was owned and operated by the State of Georgia as part of the Georgia World Congress Center ...

. In June 2020, during the

George Floyd protests in Atlanta The George Floyd protests in Atlanta were a series of protests occurring in Atlanta, the capital and largest city of Georgia, United States. The protests were part of the George Floyd protests and, more broadly, the 2020–2021 United States r ...

, the statue of Coubertin was damaged with some white paint.

References

External links

* {{Atlanta landmarks 1996 establishments in Georgia (U.S. state) 1996 sculptures Monuments and memorials in Georgia (U.S. state) Outdoor sculptures in Georgia (U.S. state) Statues in Atlanta Vandalized works of art in Georgia (U.S. state)

History

See also

References

External links