De Coubertin Monument

The De Coubertin Monument is a bronze bust in the Lichtentaler Allee near Augustaplatz, between Palais Gagarin and the Kongresshaus. It commemorates Pierre de Coubertin (1863–1937), who campaigned for the revival of the Olympic Games and founded the International Olympic Committee in 1894.

Description

The bronze bust of Pierre de Coubertin stands on a stone plinth. The Olympic rings are shown on the stone plinth, below which is the inscription:

TO THE REVIVER OF THE OLYMPIC GAMES
PIERRE DE COUBERTIN
ERECTED DURING THE 2ND GERMAN-FRENCH CULTURAL CONFERENCE JUNE BADEN-BADEN 1938

Translated from the German original.

History

The monument by sculptor Vilém Gutwillinger was inaugurated after de Coubertin’s death on 23 June 1938. In his book “Das offene Problem”, Otto Abetz describes how he came up with the idea for the monument and then organised its realisation in a very short time.^[1] The monument originally stood in the Gönneranlage (park)^[2] and, from 1972 to 1981, in front of the Bertholdbad. On the occasion of the 11th Olympic Congress it was moved to its present location on Augustaplatz.^[3] In his Baden-Baden park guide, Bernd Weigel surmised that the erection of the monument was to be seen as thanks for the fact that, at the entry into the Berlin Olympic Stadium in 1936, the French athletes were the only foreign sportsmen to raise their arm in the “German salute”.^[4]

Sources

References:

1. ↑ Otto Abetz “Das offene Problem” 1950, p. 71 ff. (?)
2. ↑ Bäuerle et al. Stadtführer Baden-Baden - Altstadt - Villen - Allee Arbeitskreis für Stadtgeschichte Baden-Baden e.V. 1994, ISSN 0936-742X p. 148
3. ↑ Article Coubertin-Büste ist ein paar Mal umgezogen by Karl Reinbothe in the Badisches Tagblatt, 1 September 2012
4. ↑ Bernd Weigel Parkführer Baden-Baden. Die Gärten und Kuranlagen im Oostal. 2nd edition, Wesel-Kommunikation, Baden-Baden 2003, ISBN 3-00-010770-3 p. 107