Centennial Olympic Park

Centennial Olympic Park is a twenty-two-acre park in the heart of Atlanta, Georgia. It was built for the 1996 Olympic games. It now hosts visitors, concerts, and local and national events.

The park is a prominent centerpiece for many of Atlanta’s iconic landmarks. The Georgia World Congress Center, the College Football Hall of Fame, the State Farm Arena, the Mercedes-Benz Stadium, and the CNN Center are to the west of the park, and the Georgia Aquarium, the National Center for Civil and Human Rights, and the World of Coca-Cola are to the north.

A vital feature of the park is an interactive, computer-controlled fountain. Lights, waterjets, and music are synchronized, producing a magnificent water sculpture. A splash pad forms the fountain’s base designed with frolicking children or sweaty tourists in mind. The fountain is the perfect symbiosis of art and fun.

Adjacent to the fountain is several flags representing host countries before the 1996 Olympics, sixty-foot-tall Greek-inspired light columns, a set of Olympic rings, an amphitheater, and interspersed statues—including one of the father of the modern Olympics, Pierre De Coubertin.

In between the park’s attractions are walkways made of approximately 800,000 engraved pavers (fund-raising bricks engraved with personal messages).

Centennial Olympic Park is an appropriately simple but elegant park. It fittingly serves as the centerpiece of the best in Atlanta.