Built as the gathering place for the 1996 Summer Olympics, Centennial Olympic Park is a twenty-one-acre green space in the heart of downtown Atlanta that has become a permanent civic landmark. Created to give the Games a central public square, it remains a hub of celebration and recreation, anchored by a distinctive fountain shaped like the interlocking rings of the Olympic symbol. The park was carved out of a run-down stretch of downtown for the centennial Olympics, the hundredth anniversary of the modern Games, and was conceived as a legacy that would outlast the event. Its construction helped spark the revitalisation of the surrounding district, and the park endured a moment of tragedy when a bombing during the Games killed and injured spectators, an event memorialised on the site. Its signature feature is the Fountain of Rings, where jets of water arranged in the five-ring Olympic pattern erupt in choreographed shows, delighting children who run through the spray on hot days. Paths, lawns, gardens and monuments fill the rest of the park, which hosts concerts, festivals and seasonal events, and an observation wheel and other attractions have grown up around its edges. The park has anchored a cluster of major attractions, with an aquarium, a soft-drink museum and other venues rising alongside it. For visitors the park is free and open, a pleasant place to relax, cool off in the fountain or attend an event, and a natural base for exploring the surrounding attractions. It sits in downtown Atlanta beside the Georgia Aquarium and other landmarks, easily reached by transit and on foot, and serves as a lively centrepiece of the city's tourist district. The Fountain of Rings, where jets arranged in the five-ring Olympic pattern erupt in choreographed shows, is the park's beloved centrepiece, delighting children who dash through the spray on hot days. A legacy of the 1996 Games that helped revitalise the surrounding downtown, the park now anchors a cluster of major attractions and remains a lively setting for concerts, festivals and everyday recreation in the heart of the city.

Type: Outdoors

Address: 265 Park Avenue West NW, Atlanta, GA, United States

Website: https://gwcca.org/centennial-olympic-park

Opening Date: 01/07/1996