Richard Hunt, Special Olympics 50th Anniversary Sculpture, 2018
This year marks 50 years since the Special Olympics was born in the city of Chicago. The anniversary was celebrated in style last week as a somber and beautiful memorial sculpture, created by by the legendary sculptor Richard Hunt, was unveiled outside of Soldier Field, where the first Special Olympics took place.
Called The Eternal Flame of Hope, the sculpture rises 30 feet in the air, its lyrical, shimmering steel form creating a poetic and proud presence in the memorial park in which it stands. Within the sculpture is an actual eternal flame, which was lit in a special ceremony on July 18th and is designed to never go out. Here’s some footage from Chicago news station ABC7 of the install: