Brandenburg Gate role in 2018 European Athletics Championships. It is also the usual finish line of the Berlin Marathon. A Soviet flag flew from a flagpole atop the gate from 1945 until 1957, when it was replaced by an East German flag. Since the reunification of Germany, the flag and the pole have been removed. During the 1953 riots in East Berlin the Soviet flag was torn off by West Germans. In 1963, U.S. President John F. Kennedy visited the Brandenburg Gate. The Soviets hung large red banners across it to prevent him looking into East Berlin. In the 1980s, decrying the
City Gate (Valletta) the gate: one of Philippe Villiers de L'Isle-Adam, the first Grand Master in Malta, and one of Jean Parisot de Valette, the founder of the city. On 24 July 1892, a bronze bust of Pope Pius V, who had made significant financial contributions to the building of Valletta, was installed above the archway on the rear of the gate. By the early 20th century, the gate was regarded as too small to cope with the large influx of people entering the city. The first proposals to address this issue were made in the 1920s, and some included replacing the gate