Welcome to visit the monument – on the pier Jetée Lucciana: Google Maps Monaco
It took 10 years to materialize the personal gift Professor Ljungqvist received on his 80th birthday back in 2011. The project had moved forward through thick and thin, but not even a global pandemic at the end could stop us from having the monument unveiled for Professor Ljungqvist. It could not have been a better site, it could not have been a better day, the ceremony could not have been crowned by a better audience, and we could not have been welcomed by a better host – H.S.H Prince Albert II.
H.S.H. Prince Albert hosted a magnificent lunch for invited guests at the Yacht Club Du Monaco. The location offers a close view over the pier Jetée Lucciana and the Et Purus momument.
PERFECT TIMING
The unveiling ceremony was timed with the World Athletics's yearly board meeting, at their headquarters, in Monaco. So, despite the ongoing pandemic, we managed to invite and receive a large number of colleagues and friends from several corners of the world. It was a pleasure to see Professor Ljungqvist meet up with his former team of colleagues and friends for the ceremony on the pier. He was one of IAAF's vice presidents from 1981 to 1999, and IAAF's senior vice president 1999–2007 and is since then an Honorary Board Member. World Athletics is the new name of the former IAAF (World Athletics Associations Federation). Servicing IAAF was the start of Professor Ljungqvist's international anti-doping career in 1976 in London. Later on, the IAAF headquarters moved to Monaco, which made Monaco a "second hometown" for Professor Ljungqvist during the intense start of the development of a global anti-doping movement.
Prince Nawaf Bin Mohammed Al Suad, heads the Saudi Arabian Athletic Federation and is also the NOC president of the Saudi Arabian Olympic Committee.
MESSAGE FROM H.M. QUEEN SILVIA OF SWEDEN
The lunch was an excellent moment to screen a video greeting from H.M. Queen Silvia of Sweden. The video's intentional purpose was at a screening at an inauguration ceremony at the Karolinska Institute (KI) for a web seminar about the world's first scientific professorship on Doping as a Public Health Issue: A Professorship in Professor Ljungqvist's name and under the management of KI. With permission from H:M The Queen, we were very proud to screen it once again to all the international guest at the lunch. More info. In the end of the video H.M. The Queen gracefully added a personal greeting to Professor Ljungqvist – to honor his 90th birthday (starts at 02:25).
PRESS, NOTES AND SHORT STORIES...
Monaco has many magnificent sculptures spread around its parks, squares and streets. For 2021, Et Purus was considered the No. 1 "sculpture of the year" by a local culture magazine. More snippets from the "Monaco Et Purus story" will be presented here, so stay tuned...