And Lenin is so young: The strangest and funniest monuments to the leader of the Russian revolution

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

The older generation remembers well how dozens of people carried flowers to the Lenin monument on November 7. The sculptures of the leader grew all over the country, and beyond its borders, like mushrooms. In the heat of fanatical veneration, the Soviet people did not even notice that some of the statues looked very ridiculous and even caricatured. Well, after the collapse of the USSR, daring sculptors began to deliberately create allegorical parody monuments. We offer a selection of the strangest and even funny images of Lenin, installed at different times in different cities of the world.

Spider Lenin

This is one of the very first monuments to Vladimir Ilyich. It was installed in 1924, a few months after the death of the leader, on the territory of the Odessa shipyard. With a spherical middle and pipes instead of a pedestal, this statue looks like a spider on long legs. But with the head of Ilyich.

Head on books

The Lenin's head, crowning piles of books, was installed in the village of Voznesenie near St. Petersburg, and the workers of the shipyard built this composition. Under the head of the leader are depicted the "holy books" for every politically savvy Soviet person - "Capital" by Marx and the works of Ilyich himself.

Reclining leader

This monument was erected in the Danish village of Herning, and before that it stood in the Baltic city of Jelgava on the central square - only not in a horizontal, but in a standard, vertical position. After Latvia gained sovereignty in 1990 and the monument was solemnly dismantled, it was bought by Danish businessman and conservative politician Mads Eg Damgaard. He transported the giant Lenin to his native village and turned it into a monument with the symbolic name "Lenin is Dead."

Grandfather on the ball

Such a strange sculpture was installed in Nizhny Tagil in 1925 - the unanimous decision to create the monument was made by the workers of the local metallurgical plant on the day of Lenin's death. The monument was quickly dubbed "Grandfather on the Ball" by the people. Indeed, the globe served as a pedestal for Ilyich. The broken chains on it, as conceived by the creator of the monument, symbolize the liberation of our country and the whole world from capitalist bonds. It is interesting that 12 years ago unknown pranksters knocked down the figure of Lenin, having managed to tear her away from the globe. At the same time, the right hand and head were repulsed and stolen. Subsequently, the missing body parts were found on the river by one of the local residents. The head and arm were screwed into place, and the figure itself was restored and hoisted back onto the globe.

Lenin-hydrocephalus

In the Transnistrian village of Sukleya, for many years there has been an absolutely ordinary, modest-sized monument to Lenin. Over time, the figure began to collapse and one day it was headless. A local sculptor volunteered to make a new "spare part" in 2010. For some reason, he made a mistake with the calculations and blinded a head, which obviously does not fit this body in size. The monument was immediately nicknamed "Lenin-hydrocephalus", but local communists decided that it was better with such a head than without it at all.

Pissing Lenin

In Soviet times, in the proletarian district of Nowa Guta in Krakow, there was a classic monument to the leader of the USSR, which was quite common in socialist Poland. When the political course in the country changed, the monument was demolished. And four years ago, a mocking parody appeared in the district - a fountain made in the form of a figure of Lenin, which is painted in an acid color and even pisses. Moreover, the intensity of the fountain jet varied. The sculpture called "Fountain of the Future" evoked different emotions among local residents. Someone approved of this ridicule of the Soviet leader. Others condemned the act, noting that it was blasphemy. Still others (mainly young people, who for the most part do not even know who Lenin is) just laughed. After standing in the square for some time, the sculpture was moved to the courtyard of the local theater.

Lenin - chupa-chups

This monument to Lenin and Krupskaya was installed in the library of the village of Yaropolets near Moscow, where in the early years of the revolution the leader met with local peasants. The composition is based on a real photograph of a married couple of revolutionaries taken in 1920. That is why Lenin (or rather, his head) looks more realistic than on most of the monuments. In particular, the leader is depicted in a hat with earflaps, and not in the notorious cap. The heads of Lenin and Krupskaya are impaled on white pillars and from a distance look like lollipops. This is how the people called this monument - "Chupa-chups".

Black face and white men

The monument to Lenin in Cuba is the very first of all that were erected outside the USSR in honor of the Soviet leader. It appeared in the vicinity of Havana (Regla) 35 years before the Cuban revolution. The sculptural composition looks strange: impersonal white men worship Lenin's huge black head. When the workers in Regla learned of Lenin's death, the machines stopped for two minutes in local factories as a sign of mourning. And then the workers solemnly planted an olive tree on the hill. She was pulled out several times by the "intruders", but they were imprisoned again. Now this hill bears the name of Lenin and the black face of the Soviet leader, like a mask, flaunts on it.

Glowing head

The largest 2D Lenin head in the world is located in Ukhta (Mount Vetlossian). It is made of metal pipes and installed on the 100th anniversary of the birth of the leader. More than 150 LED bulbs light up at the same time the electricity is turned on in the dark, and the head can be seen from the trains passing by the mountain. The spectacle is both delightful and somewhat eerie … Lighting was carried out at the expense of local philanthropists. By the way, a few years ago, the light bulbs began to gradually disappear, and then all the power cables were stolen. The head went out. The lighting of the head was subsequently restored.

Lenin leaned over …

There is also a funny monument to Lenin in Petrozavodsk. The leader is dressed in accordance with the local climate - in a warm coat, and in his hand he holds a hat with earflaps. The sculpture is made of granite mined in the area of Lake Onega. It is difficult to say why, but Vladimir Ilyich seems to be unable to stand on his feet: he leaned forward, leaning against the "side", and it looks especially funny if you look at the sculpture from behind. By the way, it is on this side that the steps to the monument are located, so that, going up them, the viewer sees not Ilyich himself, but his, so to speak, backside.

Lenin-hydra

Several years ago, a monument to Lenin called "Hydra" appeared in the Romanian capital. The author, Kostin Ionita, thus renewed the old, classical monument to Ilyich, which had previously been beheaded. Instead of the head of the leader of the rose-snake. With the help of this sculpture, Ionita allegorically demonstrated the indifference of his compatriots towards political leaders.

Lenin-long arm

In the Odintsovo district (Kubinka, Novy gorodok) there is also such a monument to Lenin: the leader is uncertainly on his feet, trying to point out something indefinite with his unnaturally long left hand. Probably for a brighter future …

And a bonus: Monument to Lenin in Goa

Continuing the theme overview of outlandish monuments from around the world.