The most unusual Lenin monuments ever! (PHOTOS)
Every Soviet city once had a bronze or stone Lenin statue - often more than one. We look at the most famous ones.
1. Lenin in the Antarctic
When in 1958, Soviet researchers opened the ‘Polyus Nedostupnosti’ research station up north, the first thing they did was erect a statue of Vladimir Lenin. The location is a mere 463 kilometers from the South Pole, and the leader’s gaze is directed toward Moscow.
2. Lenin at the bottom of the sea
About 100 meters from the Tarkankhut Peninsula in Crimea, you’ll find Vladimir Lenin on the sea floor. And he’s got company in that underwater museum: Stalin, Gagarin, Yesenin, Nicholas II, and other great figures of their day.
3. Lenin on wheels
After the death of the Leader of the Proletariat, authorities decided that it wasn’t enough for him to simply stare at people from a static pedestal. So a monument was placed on a railroad and paraded through Moscow. The aim was to get every worker to get a glimpse, no matter where they were. And the statue also spun around, so the “grandfather’s” gaze could not be avoided.
4. The biggest Lenin head in the world
No statue here, sadly - but definitely more head than one could bargain for. The sculpture is located in Buryatia capital Ulan Ude, and weighs a cool 42 tons! It faced repeated plans for removal, but was instead ‘upgraded’: the capital’s residents have given it an ushanka hat.
5. The 10-storey Lenin
The tallest of all the monuments on this list is located in Volgograd. The height, together with the pedestal, comes to 57 meters. This Evgeniy Vuchetich creation even made it into the Guinness Book of World Records as the tallest monument to a real person.
