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) Square. The new city gate, like the rest of Piano's project, was controversial. The majority of the Maltese welcomed the demolition of the fourth gate, although it was one of the few examples of Italian rationalist architecture on the island. Some critics of the new gate preferred a more traditional design similar to the third gate. The new gate has been compared to the ancient Egyptian Temple of Edfu, with critics saying that the breach in the bastions is out of place in the largely Mannerist and Baroque city. In October 2014, an art installation entitled "Prospettiva" was inaugurated in