National Monuments Foundation

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The National Monuments Foundation is a 501(c)(3) organization created in 2001 by Rodney Mims Cook, Jr. The Foundation is governed by a board with expertise in architecture, history, city planning, and international affairs, and is dedicated to enriching communities through classical urban design and works of public art.

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[edit] Mission

The National Monuments Foundation's purpose is to build monuments for the ages which will uplift the communities in which they are built, through a classical approach to urban design. The Foundation intends to create self-sustaining destination landmarks of national historical and aesthetic relevance, as well as centers for cultural, civic and social activities for local and greater communities in America.

[edit] Projects

[edit] World Athlete's Monument

The Prince of Wales's Foundation for Architecture through its American trustee Rodney Mims Cook, Jr. held a competition to construct a monument to the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta. The competition was won by Anton Glikine of St. Petersburg, Russia.

The Prince desired to find a location where the Monument would have the most impact on the community in which it would be located. He also requested that one third of the funds for construction be raised in America. With a lead gift from the Randall family of Atlanta, construction began. The Olympics Monument was placed at Pershing Point, where a number of beaux arts buildings had been demolished in the late 1980s to facilitate traffic flow. The surrounding neighborhood was underutilized until the Monument was built, which to date has generated $75 million in new construction within a one-block radius. More is on the way.

Although not easily accessible and solely a work of art, CNN estimated that 20,0000 people were drawn to the World Athletes Monument during several days of international mourning for Diana, Princess of Wales. In addition, thousands have come to the site to celebrate Olympic victories and mourn past presidents at the time of their deaths. By contrast, the dramatic Millennium Gate site is a living monument with access to public parking and superior public transportation.

[edit] Millennium Gate

The Millennium Gate is the largest classical monument to be dedicated since the Jefferson Memorial. An eight-story triumphal arch overlooking a colonnaded lawn, the monument is flanked by two sculptures representing peace and justice.

Inside the arch is an American history museum. 12,000 square feet of gallery space display a timeline of American history starting with the native Indian population to the Spanish exploration and ultimately British settlement. Twenty of America’s pioneer families are highlighted in individual cabinets to convey how the great philanthropic ideal of America’s 18th century founders has become a reality. Also included are the Rockefeller, Vanderbilt, Hearst, Carnegie, and Roosevelt families, all of whom have Georgia connections. The Philanthropy Gallery will be the most novel room in the museum, housing a floor-to-ceiling and wall-to-wall screen that displays a series of 360-degree virtual images of historically important locations in Atlanta, Georgia. In this space, visitors will have the ability to virtually manipulate the landscape and unveil the contributions of great philanthropists. They will also be able to “remove” significant contributions with the wave of a hand over the screen. As an example, the visitor can request to see what Atlanta might have looked like had Robert Woodruff never lived. The Millennium Gate’s unique combination of traditional and virtual galleries has compelled both Mayor Shirley Franklin and Speaker Newt Gingrich to publicly name our museum the newest and most exciting teaching model today, and believe it will be imitated across the country.

The Millennium Gate is not only the newest educational space in Atlanta; it is also a public work of art that will encourage gathering and reflecting. As the largest reclaimed brown-field site in America today that is now the city’s newest public green space, The Millennium Gate great lawn and lake truly represent “resurgens.”

The galleries are under design direction from curators of The Atlanta History Center and Georgia Tech Interactive Media. Sculpture is by world-renowned artists Alexander Stoddart, who is known for The Queen’s Gallery at Buckingham Palace, Frederick Hart, who is known for The Three Soldiers at The Vietnam Memorial, and George Kelly, US Supreme Court sculptor who has been commissioned to carve a bust of President George Washington to commemorate the first president’s tours of Savannah, Augusta, and Washington, Georgia. The Millennium Gate Galleries will also be used periodically to showcase significant art collections to exhibit the cultural excellence of America.

[edit] External links

  • [httP;//www.thenmf.org Official web site]