#lenin monuments

[brunogremez]

This man, Lenin, has the “honour” of having the most statues of any other historical figures. In Russia, virtually every village still has its Lenin monument, and major cities usually have more statues of the man. This one is a special one out of my collection: Lenin in the city of Khorog in Tajikistan, right on the border with Afghanistan. Probably the southernmost statue of Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov in the Former Soviet Union. Let me know if you are interested, I have many more. Each one is unique…

[brunogremez]

Giant Lenin Head of Ulan Ude, the capital of Buryatia, in the Russian Far East. It is arguably the largest head of Lenin in the Former Soviet Union (and the world). With a height of 7.7 m (45 ft), it weighs 42 tons. It was built in 1971 in honour of the centenary of Lenin’s birth. The ethnic Buryatian peoples are related to the Mongolians and practice Buddhism or Shamanism. Somehow, I cannot refrain from thinking that this Lenin face has some Asian traits. Would it be a local variation of the leader’s representation?

[brunogremez]

Lenin status in a suburb of Astana, the capital of Kazakhstan. I took this picture  in the late 90′s, soon after the country decided to move its capital from Almaty, located in the South-Eastern corner of the country, to Astana, in the middle of Kazakhstan. At the time, the city of Astana was already undergoing a major facelift and the days of this statue were obviously numbered. The city has continued its transformation from a provincial city into a real, modern and proud capital city to this day. I am sure that the statue has since disappeared or has at least been displaced to an undisclosed location. In 2018, the city was renamed Nur-Sultan after former President Nursultan Nazarbayev.