Statue of Lenin in Kharkiv

The ''Statue of Lenin in Kharkiv'' was a sculpture monument to Vladimir Lenin, located in Freedom Square, Kharkiv, that was toppled and demolished in 2014. It was the largest monument to Lenin in Ukraine, designed by Alexander Sidorenko after entering an open competition to design the monument in 1963, in the lead up to the anniversary of the October Revolution.

The monument ID was 63-101-0682.

Description

The statue was composed of Lenin, gesturing towards the Kharkiv Regional Administration Building with his right hand and holding a crumpled cartouche in his left, atop a pedestal. The pedestal included two bas-reliefs: on one side a worker, sailor, and soldier under the Red Flag, and on the other a worker, a collective farmer, and a scientist who raised a model artificial satellite above his head. In the middle, the plinth was mainly empty, except for the inscription of Lenin's name in Ukrainian, held on by steel pins at its feet.

History

The monument was placed and planned by the Kharkiv City Council through the memorandum placed to build the sculpture on the square in 1963. The commission was accounted by sculptor Alexander Sidorenko and the building was commissioned by Oleksiy Oliynyk and Makar Vronsky. The monument was opened in November 1964, the eve of the October Revolution festivities in the USSR.

After the collapse of the USSR and restoration of the independence of Ukraine, many activists, politicians, and individuals called for the destruction of the sculpture, to remove a remnant of the era of Russian colonisation in the area.

In 1994, it was proposed to replace this monument with a chocolate one, and to distribute chocolate to children.

By order of the Ministry of Culture No. 468 of 30 May 2013, the monument was entered in the State Register of Immovable Landmarks of Ukraine as a monument of monumental art of local significance, protection number 27-Ha.

Euromaidan and Revolution of Dignity

During the Euromaidan and Leninist events in Ukraine on 22 February 2014, after thousands of Euromaidan activists marched from the Palace of Sports to Freedom Square, there were discussions about the mass demolition of the monument and all other insignias of the Soviet past. During the discussion, it was decided to demolish the monument after a decision in the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine.

Groups of Kharkiv residents who identified themselves as the " St George's Ribbon" movement called for pro-Russian inhabitants and Anti-Maidan activists to defend the monument and organised round-the-clock protection. The Mayor of Kharkiv Hennadiy Kernes opposed the toppling of the monument.

Several months later, in the evening of 21 September 2014, Right Sector activists painted the monument and burned the St George's ribbons that remained there. The next day, the inscriptions were erased by utility workers.

Demolition

On 28 September 2014, a pro-Ukrainian march and rally was held in Kharkiv under the slogan "Kharkiv is Ukraine" with the participation of about 5,000 people. After the pro-Ukrainian action, most of its participants (about 3,000) gathered in Freedom Square and began to demolish the monument to Lenin. Participants included fighters of the Azov Battalion and activists of the Eastern Corps, Public Guard, Kharkiv Euromaidan, and Kharkiv Ultras.''Юлія Гуш''
В Харкові знесли пам'ятник Леніну (фото).
''Справжня варта''. 29.09.2014.У Харкові марш «за Україну» переріс у повалення Леніна.
''Українська правда''. 28.09.2014.

Initially, it was planned to saw the monument in parts with the help of a car lift, and in particular to saw off the head and hands. But the police did not allow special equipment to the monument and blocked all entrances to the square. At the same time, activists with the flag of the Azov Battalion drilled the inscription "Glory to Ukraine" into the monument with a perforator, at about 19:00 UTC+2.

During the action to demolish the monument to Lenin, the pedestal was mined and inspected, but the report on the demining turned out to be false. In addition, according to Adviser to the Minister of Internal Affairs Anton Gerashchenko, law enforcement officers surrounded Freedom Square during the demolition of the monument to Lenin in order to prevent armed provocations.Харків повалив Леніна офіційно. Провокаторів попередили: до пам'ятника — зась.
''Українська правда.'' 28.09.2014.

During the first attempt to demolish the monument, the cable broke, injuring one of the activists. After this, the monument's legs continued to be sawn, and climbing ropes were replaced with steel ropes. One man who tried to harm this process was beaten by pro-Ukrainian activists for insulting the Ukrainian people.

At about 10:30 pm, activists tied two ropes to the figures and pulled them down and knocked down the monument to Lenin on Freedom Square in Kharkiv. After that, a crowd of people rushed to the monument, lighting fireworks and smoke bombs, as well as greeting each other shouting "Glory to Ukraine" once more. Kharkivites also tried to seize a piece of the monument as a souvenir. In total, the process of demolition of the monument took about four hours. Activists set Ukrainian flags in the shoes of the statue of Lenin that remained on the pedestal.

The sculpture was severely damaged, with the remaining pieces being just a torso without one arm, the head, the front abdomen, and the boots. The remains of the statue of Lenin were transported to the Malyshev plant and the Kharkiv regional highway near the ring road.

Aftermath

Initially, the police opened a criminal investigation into the attempt to topple the monument to Lenin under Part 2 of Article 298 (destruction, destruction or damage to cultural heritage sites) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.

However, a few hours after the demolition, the city's official website published an order signed by the Governor of Kharkiv Oblast, Ihor Baluta, in which he “instructed the relevant structures to take measures to exclude the monument to Lenin, located on Svoboda Square in Kharkov, from the register of historical and cultural monuments, and also to take measures for the dismantling of the monument". Baluta then signed an order about "settling the situation regarding monuments to totalitarianism", according to which he decided to take urgent measures to dismantle the monument and remove it from the State Register of Immovable Monuments of Ukraine. On the basis of this order, the Minister of Internal Affairs Arsen Avakov announced the termination of the criminal proceedings regarding the damage to the monument. Some of the local media called it "Vandalism". The next day, the Kharkiv police officially announced the termination of the criminal proceedings.

On 29 September 2014, the head of the Kharkiv Regional State Administration Ihor Baluta noted that the fall of the monument did not damage the structure of the subway system.

Later, activists of the Kharkiv public organization IT Sector offered to the mayor to exchange the sculpture's nose for an armoured personnel carrier or a T-80 tank for the Azov Volunteer Battalion, saying that otherwise they will hold an auction for the nose. Lenin's 35 kg ear from the monument was also put up for auction, and was exchanged for a thermal imager for the Kharkiv Territorial Defence Battalion.

On the morning of 4 October 2014, a cross 3.5 m high, 1.5 m wide, and over 100 kg in weight was installed on the top of the pedestal, with the inscriptions "Save and Preserve" and "Put a cross on Lenin", which stood temporarily.

In April 2015 a Kharkiv Court ruled that the destruction of the monument had not been illegal since, on 28 September 2014, then Governor of Kharkiv Oblast Ihor Baluta had decreed that the monument should be removed. In this court case, the Kharkiv city council attempted to declare this decree by Baluta to have been illegal.The court denied the Kharkiv city council to recognize the illegal demolition of the monument to Lenin
UNIAN (07.04.2015)

In November 2015, Kharkiv Mayor Hennadiy Kernes officially admitted that because of Ukrainian decommunization laws, the statue of Lenin could not be rebuilt. According to him, it was planned for architects, artists, and the city council to decide how to give Freedom Square a "European appearance" in the near future. Radio Free Europe reported that Kernes would be pushing for the building of a "modern fountain", similar to one that used to be located at the same spot as the toppled Lenin statue.

The pedestal and foundation of the statue were dismantled and removed in April 2016.On Freedom Square demolished pedestal the statue of Lenin (photo)
SQ (11 April 2016)At the site of a monument to Lenin will not build anything on Freedom Square
SQ (11 April 2016)At the site of the monument to Lenin, there is a pit (photo, video)
SQ (21 April 2016) In August 2016, pavers were laid on the site where the statue of Lenin stood. On 8 August 2016, the First Deputy Mayor of Kharkiv, Ihor Terekhov, stated that "In the place where there was a monument to Lenin, there will be nothing."

File:Statue of Lenin on Freedom Square in Kharkiv 2010 -01.jpg, Monument prior to demolition in 2010
File:Момент падіння 2.jpg, The statue in the process of being toppled
File:Момент падіння.jpg, The moment when the statue was toppled
File:Destruction of Statue of Lenin in Kharkiv (Freedom Square)7 28.09.2014.jpg, Protesters take pieces of the bronze statue after it was toppled
File:Destruction of Statue of Lenin in Kharkiv (Freedom Square)2 28.09.2014.jpg, The first piece is taken as a souvenir by an unknown man
File:Destructed Lenin monument Kharkiv 3.JPG, The vacant plinth on 29 September 2014
File:Statue of Lenin in Kharkiv (Freedom Square) after destruction2 29.09.2014.jpg, The vacant plinth on 29 September 2014
File:Пам'ятник В. І. Леніну, пл. Свободи.JPG, The dismantled Lenin statue on 7 October 2014

Replacement fountain

After an open competition, it was decided on 3 February 2017 that Freedom Square would get a new 86 m tall monument.Lenin in Kharkiv replacement found
Ukrayinska Pravda (3 February 2017)It is known to be a monument to the Freedom Square (photo)
SQ (3 February 2017) At its top, there was planned to be an angel with an Orthodox cross watching over four figures who somehow resonate with the history of Slobozhanshchina (Anacharsis, Igor Svyatoslavich, Semen Hulak-Artemovsky, and Mykhailo Petrenko). After the monument had been approved, residents in Kharkiv expressed opposition to the competition. According to them, the designed sculpture didn't fit in the context of the square, obliterating the symbolic value of the space. A petition demanding to cancel the decision on installing the column was registered on the official website of the Kharkiv City Council and more than 5000 people voted, establishing the minimum number for the Kharkiv City Council to give an official answer to the request. This petition was supported by Docomomo International.Under Threat: Freedom Square in Kharkiv, Ukraine (DATE: 27/2/2017)
/ref>

The 86 m high monument was never built and on 17 April 2020, at a session of the Kharkiv city council, Kharkiv Mayor Kernes announced that a new fountain would appear at the former site of the statue. This fountain was opened as the largest fountain in Ukraine, with a diameter of 36 meters, on 23 August 2020, Kharkiv's City Day.Kernes showed what a "dry" fountain will look like in the square on Freedom Square
My Kharkov .info (18 April 2020)


My Kharkov .info (17 August 2020)
Gorod.X (24 August 2020) However, it is situated at the opposite end of Freedom Square, at a more central location.

See also

*Demolition of monuments to Vladimir Lenin in Ukraine
*List of statues of Vladimir Lenin
* 2014 pro-Russian unrest in Ukraine#Kharkiv Oblast

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lenin in Kharkiv, Statue of
Destroyed sculptures
Statues in Ukraine
Demolished buildings and structures in Ukraine
Sculptures in the Soviet Union
Buildings and structures demolished in 2014
Monuments and memorials to Vladimir Lenin
Shevchenkivskyi District (Kharkiv)
Decommunization in Ukraine
1964 establishments in Ukraine
2014 disestablishments in Ukraine
Sculptures of men in Ukraine
Outdoor sculptures in Ukraine
Removed statues
Statues removed in 2014