![Montreal_Olympic_Stadium_aerial_view](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/99/Montreal_Olympic_Stadium_aerial_view.jpg)
The Olympic Park (French: ''Parc olympique'') consists of a series of venues and sports arenas in
Montreal
Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple ...
,
Quebec
Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...
, Canada, which was home to many of the venues from the
1976 Summer Olympics
Events January
* January 3 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force.
* January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea.
* January 11 – The 1976 P ...
.
It is bound by
Sherbrooke Street
Sherbrooke Street (officially in french: rue Sherbrooke) is a major east–west artery and at in length, is the second longest street on the Island of Montreal. The street begins in the town of Montreal West and ends on the extreme tip of ...
to the north, Viau Street to the east, Pierre de Coubertin Avenue to the south, and
Pie-IX Boulevard
Pie-IX Boulevard (french: boulevard Pie-IX, pronounced in both English and French), named after Pope Pius IX, is a major boulevard in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It runs for roughly in a northwest–southeast direction between Henri Bourassa Boulev ...
to the west.
Olympic Stadium
The Olympic Stadium is a
multi-purpose stadium
A multi-purpose stadium is a type of stadium designed to be easily used by multiple types of events. While any stadium could potentially host more than one type of sport or event, this concept usually refers to a specific design philosophy tha ...
built in the mid-1970s as the
main venue for the
1976 Summer Olympics
Events January
* January 3 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force.
* January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea.
* January 11 – The 1976 P ...
, it is nicknamed "The Big O", a reference to both its name and to the
doughnut shape of the permanent component of the stadium's roof.
The stadium is the largest by seating capacity in Canada. After the Olympics,
artificial turf was installed and was used by the
Expos
The Montreal Expos (french: link=no, Les Expos de Montréal) were a Canadian professional baseball team based in Montreal, Quebec. The Expos were the first Major League Baseball (MLB) franchise located outside the United States. They played in t ...
, Montreal's professional
baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding t ...
team, the
Montreal Alouettes
The Montreal Alouettes (French: Les Alouettes de Montréal) are a professional Canadian football team based in Montreal, Quebec. Founded in 1946, the team has folded and been revived twice. The Alouettes compete in the East Division of the Canad ...
, Montreal's professional
football team and
CF Montréal, Montreal's professional
soccer team. The stadium currently serves as a
multipurpose facility for special events (e.g. concerts, trade shows) with a permanent seating capacity of 56,040.
Montreal Tower
The Montreal Tower, part of the city's
Olympic Stadium
''Olympic Stadium'' is the name usually given to the main stadium of an Olympic Games. An Olympic stadium is the site of the opening and closing ceremonies. Many, though not all, of these venues actually contain the words ''Olympic Stadium'' as ...
and Olympic Park and formerly known as the Olympic Tower, is the tallest inclined structure in the world at , and the
tenth tallest structure in Montreal. It was designed by architect
Roger Taillibert
Roger Taillibert (21 January 1926 – 3 October 2019) was a French architect, active as a designer from about 1963 to 1987.
Taillibert was notable for designing the Parc des Princes in Paris and the Olympic Stadium in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. ...
and leans at an angle of 45°, much larger than that of the
Leaning Tower of Pisa
The Leaning Tower of Pisa ( it, torre pendente di Pisa), or simply, the Tower of Pisa (''torre di Pisa'' ), is the ''campanile'', or freestanding bell tower, of Pisa Cathedral. It is known for its nearly four-degree lean, the result of an unst ...
(less than 4°).
Biodome
The Montreal Biodome is a facility that allows visitors to walk through replicas of four ecosystems found in the Americas. These ecosystems are the Tropical Forest, the Laurentian Forest, the Saint Lawrence Marine Eco-system and the Sub-Polar Region. The building was originally constructed for the
1976 Olympic Games as a
velodrome
A velodrome is an arena for track cycling. Modern velodromes feature steeply banked oval tracks, consisting of two 180-degree circular bends connected by two straights. The straights transition to the circular turn through a moderate easement ...
with 2,600 seats. It hosted both
track cycling
Track cycling is a bicycle racing sport usually held on specially built banked tracks or velodromes using purpose-designed track bicycles.
History
Track cycling has been around since at least 1870. When track cycling was in its infancy, it ...
and
judo
is an unarmed modern Japanese martial art, Olympic sport (since 1964), and the most prominent form of jacket wrestling competed internationally.『日本大百科全書』電子版【柔道】(CD-ROM version of Encyclopedia Nipponica, "Judo"). ...
events. Renovations on the building began in 1989 and in 1992 the indoor nature exhibit was opened. It is part of the
Espace pour la Vie district of museums centered around life and nature.
Rio Tinto Alcan Planetarium
The Rio Tinto Alcan Planetarium is one of the newer additions to Olympic Park. It started its operations in 2013, replacing
Montreal's previous planetarium, which closed in 2011. The planetarium features a number of films and expositions centered around
astronomy
Astronomy () is a natural science that studies celestial objects and phenomena. It uses mathematics, physics, and chemistry in order to explain their origin and evolution. Objects of interest include planets, moons, stars, nebulae, g ...
and
outer space
Outer space, commonly shortened to space, is the expanse that exists beyond Earth and its atmosphere and between celestial bodies. Outer space is not completely empty—it is a near-perfect vacuum containing a low density of particles, pred ...
. It is part of the
Espace pour la Vie district of museums centered around life and nature.
Saputo Stadium
The Saputo Stadium is a
soccer-specific stadium
Soccer-specific stadium is a term used mainly in the United States and Canada to refer to a sports stadium either purpose-built or fundamentally redesigned for soccer and whose primary function is to host soccer matches, as opposed to a multi- ...
and is home to the
CF Montréal (formerly the Montreal Impact). It became the CF Montréal's home stadium in 2008 when they moved there from
Complexe sportif Claude-Robillard. It is Canada's second largest soccer-specific stadium.
Other facilities
*
Olympic Athletes' Village
*
Maurice Richard Arena
Maurice Richard Arena (french: Aréna Maurice-Richard) is a 4,750-seat multi-purpose arena at Olympic Park in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It was built in 1962. It is named in honour of Maurice Richard.
The rink was renovated in 1994, the arena in ...
(Olympic host of boxing and wrestling events)
*
Pierre Charbonneau Centre (Olympic host of wrestling)
*
Olympic Pool
An Olympic-size swimming pool conforms to regulated dimensions that are large enough for international competition. This type of swimming pool is used in the Olympic Games, where the race course is in length, typically referred to as "long cou ...
(Olympic host of swimming events)
*Additionally:
Famous Players
Famous Players Limited Partnership, DBA Famous Players, is a Canadian-based subsidiary of Cineplex Entertainment. As an independent company, it existed as a film exhibitor and cable television service provider. Famous Players operated numerous m ...
' Starcité theater, and the
Montreal Metro stations
Pie-IX and
Viau
Viau is a provincial electoral district in the city of Montreal in Quebec, Canada that elects members to the National Assembly of Quebec. It consists of the Districts of Saint-Michel and François-Perrault (east of Papineau Avenue) in the Bor ...
The area west of Olympic Stadium, home to various outdoor events, is known as the ''Esplanade''. Adjacent to the park across Sherbrooke Street is
Maisonneuve Park, which contains the
Montreal Botanical Garden
The Montreal Botanical Garden (french: link=no, Jardin botanique de Montréal) is a large botanical garden in Montreal, Quebec, Canada comprising of thematic gardens and greenhouses. It was designated a National Historic Site of Canada in 2008 ...
(Olympic host of Athletics (20 km walk) and Modern pentathlon) and
Montreal Insectarium
The Montreal Insectarium (french: link=no, Insectarium de Montréal) is a natural history museum located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, featuring a large quantity of insects from all around the world. It is the largest insect museum in North America ...
.
In October 2017, an area in the park that was once referred to as "The Place des Vainqueurs" was renamed "Place
Nadia Comaneci" in honour of the Romanian gymnast.
References
External links
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{{Authority control
Venues of the 1976 Summer Olympics
Mercier–Hochelaga-Maisonneuve
Olympic Parks