International Winter Sports Museum in Lake Placid, NY is the result of years of trying to develop the perfect spot for the Olympic sports-a spot that would generate the pride deserving of these great events. The International Olympic Committee was founded in 1894 and it took many years to develop the Olympic Museum. The goal was to develop a common union between the games and the place where they would be played.
At one time, the Olympic Games began to die until Pierre de Coubertin managed to revive them. He chose Lausanne as a place to start a headquarters for the International Olympics in 1915. He then started his idea to make an Olympic Museum. In 1980, President of IOC Juan Antonio Samaranch set out to create a Olympic Museum as well as Olympic Studies Centre to help generate the spirit of the Olympics and keep with Coubertin's original ideas.
When the committee purchased land by Lake Geneva at Ouchy, the plans were completed successfully. They were so successful that in 1995 the European Museum of the Year award was given to the Museum. Since it opened in 2001, approximately 2 million visitors have come to view the place.
The International Winter Sports Museum is not only a place for the events to take place but a place to promote the art, culture and history of the Olympics. The main purpose of the Museum is to show visitors the importance of the Olympics to the countries involved. Almost every Olympic event that has taken place since its beginning has some of its origin at this museum. Visitors from all ages come to the International Winter Sports Museum to view the exhibits which hold many special memories of years of hard work and athletics.
