Where is Lenin’s biggest head located?
This huge monument is the most famous landmark of Ulan-Ude, the capital of Buryatia.
It is installed on the Square of Soviets in front of the Government House. The height of the sculpture is 7.7 meters (together with the pedestal - 14), and weighs 42 tons. But how and why was it put up?
The year 1970 was approaching. The Soviet Union was preparing to widely celebrate the 100th anniversary of the birth of the “leader of the world proletariat”. In Buryatia, they thought of putting up a large monument to Vladimir Lenin, which would replace the other small ones.
At that time, an exhibition dedicated to Lenin in art was held in Moscow and then in Montreal as part of Expo 67; and one of the submissions was just a bronze head of Lenin.
The party leadership of Buryatia liked this literal realization of the idea that Lenin was the “head”. They contacted Oskov artists Georgy and Yuri Neroda, father and son, and asked them to make a monumental head for Ulan-Ude. The head was cast in two halves in Mytishchi near Moscow and delivered to Buryatia by train and assembled on the spot. The monument was revealed to the public in 1971.
By the way, there are still many “heads” of Lenin in existence. There are about 40 of them in Russia alone, including in the city of Mirny in Yakutia and Ulyanovsk in the Volga area.
