Grenoble 1968 remembered

The city is home to nearly 150 open-air sculptures. Many of them were commissioned for France’s first Symposium of Sculpture, held in the summer of 1967, and for the Olympic Winter Games the following year. Most of the sculptures created for these two events can be found in the Olympic Village and the Parc Paul Mistral. Fashioned from materials such as Carrara marble, concrete and limestone, they comprise pieces by celebrated sculptors including Ervin Patkai, Yasuo Muzui, Gregor Apostu and Gigi Guadanucci.

Designed to blend in and harmonise with their immediate surroundings and to bring art to the people of Grenoble, these sculptures remain an integral part of the city’s artistic heritage. Many of them feature on three walking routes created in 2018 to celebrate this heritage and to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the Olympic Winter Games.

This and other anniversary celebrations have also helped bring Grenoble 1968 to life for the city’s inhabitants. At the 40th anniversary in 2008, for example, a three-month exhibition entitled “1968-2008, Panorama Olympique” focused on the cable car that links the city centre with the Bastille fortress that sits above it. Taking the Games, Olympic symbols and innovation as some of its themes, the exhibition comprised a museum that showcased the spirit of Grenoble 1968 and starred its mascot Schuss. A skier in the red, white and blue of the French flag, the zig-zag-shaped Schuss was emblazoned on the cable car’s carriages and was also commemorated by two large steel statues outside the cable car station, both of them bearing information panels. A commemorative book called Les Neiges de Grenoble (“The Snows of Grenoble”) was also published to mark the anniversary.

Created five years later, the Tramway on the Tracks of the Olympic Games was a heritage route taking in eight of the city’s tram stops, starting at the Olympic railway station and ending at the Olympic Village. The idea behind it was to promote the city’s Olympic legacy, encourage visitors to get to know the city, and relive the Grenoble 1968 Games.

The 50th anniversary celebrations in 2018 ran for six months and featured a host of events, including a torch relay through the streets of Grenoble, a figure skating gala, exhibitions across the city and a multi-sports festival. The venue for the men’s Alpine skiing competitions, the ski resort of Chamrousse, staged light and sound shows on the history of skiing as well as skiing competitions, torchlit descents and concerts.

Grenoble’s Museé Dauphinois published a book entitled Les Jeux Olympiques qui ont changé l’Isère (“The Olympic Games That Transformed the Isere Region”) and staged a successful exhibition under the same name. As well as showcasing the history of the Olympic Games, the exhibition told the story of Grenoble 1968 with the aid of films, posters, memorabilia and informative displays, and revealed the impact that the staging of the Olympic Winter Games had on the city and its surroundings.

The 2018 celebrations featured France’s first ever Olympic Festival, held at Grenoble’s Palais des Sports. The 15-day event, which was timed to coincide with the Olympic Winter Games PyeongChang 2018, attracted over 20,000 visitors. As well as having the opportunity to meet Olympic champions past and present, the public were able to try a number of ice-based sports. An ice rink was opened at the Palais des Sports, which also staged concerts and DJ sets. Meanwhile, images of the stars of Grenoble 1968 – among them Jean-Claude Killy, Toini Gustaffson and Jiri Raska – were displayed at venues across the city.

The 2018 celebrations also included the inaugural ISF Schools Winter Games, which saw 500 young athletes from 19 countries compete in eight winter sports. Events were streamed live on the IOC’s Olympic Channel. Students and teachers from 136 local schools helped out at this festival of Olympism, education and school sport, which boasted French Olympic biathlon champion Martin Fourcade as its ambassador.

Helping to keep the spirit of the X Olympic Winter Games alive in the city is the Conservatoire Observatoire et Laboratoire des Jeux Olympiques de Grenoble (COLJOG). Founded in 2002 by a group of local people with a passion for Olympism and sport in general, it plays a prominent part in anniversary celebrations and also harnesses the material legacies of the Olympic Winter Games to promote tourism to the region. It does so by improving street lighting, creating walking and cycling routes, and erecting information panels with QR codes that allow visitors to access digital content on Grenoble’s Olympic history and the transformation and development of the city.