The Vladimir Lenin monument in Kyiv was a statue dedicated to

Vladimir Lenin Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov ( 187021 January 1924), better known as Vladimir Lenin, was a Russian revolutionary, politician and political theorist. He was the first head of government of Soviet Russia from 1917 until Death and state funeral of ...

, the founder of the Soviet Union in

Kyiv Kyiv, also Kiev, is the capital and most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city of Ukraine. Located in the north-central part of the country, it straddles both sides of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2022, its population was 2, ...

, the capital of Ukraine. The larger than life-size (3.45 meters 1.32 feet Lenin monument was built by Russian sculptor Sergey Merkurov from the same red

Karelia Karelia (; Karelian language, Karelian and ; , historically Коре́ла, ''Korela'' []; ) is an area in Northern Europe of historical significance for Russia (including the Soviet Union, Soviet era), Finland, and Sweden. It is currentl ...

n stone as Lenin's Mausoleum. It was displayed at the

1939 New York World's Fair The 1939 New York World's Fair (also known as the 1939–1940 New York World's Fair) was an world's fair, international exposition at Flushing Meadows–Corona Park in Queens, New York City, New York, United States. The fair included exhibitio ...

and erected on Kyiv's

main Main may refer to: Geography *Main River (disambiguation), multiple rivers with the same name *Ma'in, an ancient kingdom in modern-day Yemen * Main, Iran, a village in Fars Province *Spanish Main, the Caribbean coasts of mainland Spanish territ ...

Khreshchatyk Street (at the intersection of Shevchenko Boulevard, opposite the Bessarabsky Market) on 5 December 1946. The statue was toppled from its pedestal and crushed by protesters on 8 December 2013, as part of the

Euromaidan Euromaidan ( ; , , ), or the Maidan Uprising, was a wave of Political demonstration, demonstrations and civil unrest in Ukraine, which began on 21 November 2013 with large protests in Maidan Nezalezhnosti (Independence Square) in Kyiv. The p ...

events, when many other Soviet statues were toppled. The plinth remains in place, and has become at times a site of political artwork, and arguments. Since 2016 various sculptures or installations have been exhibitioned in front of the plinth.A new sculpture was erected on the site of the monument to Lenin in Kyiv

Ukrayinska Pravda ''Ukrainska Pravda'' is a Ukrainian socio-political online media outlet founded by Heorhii Gongadze in April 2000. After Gongadze’s death in September 2000, the editorial team was led by co-founder Olena Prytula, who remained the editor-in ...

. 30 October 2019
In the center of Kyiv installed a new sculpture, Ukrainians are not thrilled: "Shackles of power united by a layer"
ZNAJ.UA. 30 October 2019 Since 2015 all monuments connected with communism-related themes and/or persons are illegal in Ukraine.

Post-Soviet period

According to the decree of the former

president of Ukraine The president of Ukraine (, ) is the head of state of Ukraine. The president represents the nation in international relations, administers the foreign political activity of the state, conducts negotiations and concludes international treaties. ...

Viktor Yushchenko Viktor Andriiovych Yushchenko (, ; born 23 February 1954) is a Ukrainian politician who was the third president of Ukraine from 23 January 2005 to 25 February 2010. He aimed to orient Ukraine towards Western world, the West, European Union, and N ...

, this monument of the Soviet Union and the associated Communist period should have been removed after Ukraine gained independence.Про заходи у зв'язку з 75-ми роковинами Голодомору 1932 – 1933 років в Україні
decree of the President of Ukraine № 250/2007 Nevertheless, due to the resistance of the

Communist Party of Ukraine The Communist Party of Ukraine (CPU or KPU) is a banned political party in Ukraine. It was founded in 1993 and claimed to be the successor to the Soviet-era Communist Party of Ukraine, which had been banned in 1991. In 2002 it held a "unifi ...

, whose members were elected to

Verhovna Rada The Verkhovna Rada ( ; VR), officially the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, is the unicameral parliament of Ukraine. It consists of 450 deputies presided over by a speaker. The Verkhovna Rada meets in the Verkhovna Rada building in Ukraine's capital ...

, the last Kyiv monument to Lenin was left standing. After the fall of Soviet rule, the monument suffered numerous incidents of

vandalism Vandalism is the action involving deliberate destruction of or damage to public or private property. The term includes property damage, such as graffiti and defacement directed towards any property without permission of the owner. The t ...

which led to both increased policing of the area and frequent vigilance by pro-Soviet activists.

Demolition

On 1 December 2013, a group of masked men attempted to topple the statue during the surge of the

protests. Police immediately reacted by deploying a small Berkut

riot police Riot police are police who are organized, deployed, trained or equipped to confront crowds, protests or riots. Riot police may be regular police officers who act in the role of riot police in particular situations, or they may be separate unit ...

unit which was attacked, overwhelmed and forced to flee. Euromaidan leaders immediately denounced both the monument attempt and the clash with police as an action of unaffiliated "provocateurs". Later, on 8 December 2013, several Ukrainian individuals subsequently claimed to be affiliated with the Svoboda political party toppled the statue, as Kyiv police silently looked on. The statue then broke from impact with the ground. After the fall of the Lenin statue the crowd began to sing the

national anthem of Ukraine The State Anthem of Ukraine, also known by its incipit "" and its original title "", is one of the state symbols of Ukraine. The lyrics are a slightly modified version of the first verse and chorus of the patriotic song "", written in 1862 ...

. Later, pieces of the monument were picked up by protesters as

souvenir A souvenir ( French for 'a remembrance or memory'), memento, keepsake, or token of remembrance is an object a person acquires for the memories the owner associates with it. A souvenir can be any object that can be collected or purchased and trans ...

Response

The removal or destruction of Lenin monuments and statues gained particular momentum after the destruction of the Kyiv Lenin statue. Under the motto "Ленінопад" ( Leninopad, translated into English as "Leninfall"), activists pulled down a dozen communist monuments in the Kyiv region, Zhytomyr, Khmelnytskyi, and elsewhere, or damaged them during the course of the EuroMaidan protests into spring of 2014. In other cities and towns, monuments were removed by organised heavy equipment and transported to scrapyards or dumps.

Political response

A member of the Ukrainian parliament from the party

UDAR The Ukrainian Democratic Alliance for Reform of Vitali Klitschko (, using the acronym UDAR Vitali Klitschko () translates to "strike" or "punch", ) is a Political parties in Ukraine, political party in Ukraine headed by retired

, Valeriy Karpuntsov, announced that Ukrainian police had started arrests of people present in the area during the fall of the last monument to Lenin in Kyiv. The governor of

Kharkiv Oblast Kharkiv Oblast (, ), also referred to as Kharkivshchyna (), is an oblast (province) in eastern Ukraine. Kharkiv borders Luhansk Oblast to the east, Donetsk Oblast to the southeast, Dnipropetrovsk Oblast to the southwest, Poltava Oblast to the w ...

Mykhailo Dobkin Mykhailo Markovych Dobkin (born 26 January 1970) is a Ukrainian politician, former governor of Kharkiv Oblast, former mayor of Kharkiv,tweeted A tweet (officially known as a post since 2023) is a short status update on the social networking site Twitter (officially known as X since 2023) which can include images, videos, GIFs, straw polls, hashtags, mentions, and hyperlinks. Around ...

on 8 December 2013 about starting a

crowdfunding Crowdfunding is the practice of funding a project or venture by raising money from a large number of people, typically via the internet. Crowdfunding is a form of crowdsourcing and Alternative Finance, alternative finance, to fund projects "withou ...

campaign to restore the monument: "Tomorrow I will open the account for restoration of the monument to Lenin in Kyiv… Everybody, who hates

Hutsuls The Hutsuls (Hutsul/; ; ) are an East Slavic ethnic group spanning parts of western Ukraine and northern Romania (i.e. parts of Bukovina and Maramureș). In Ukraine, they have often been officially and administratively designated a subgro ...

for their stupidity, join". He stated that he would allocate the sum of ₴100,000 for the restoration of the monument.

Public opinion

Most residents of Kyiv (69%) had a negative attitude to the removal of Lenin's monument during the mass protest actions, while 13% had a positive attitude and 15% remained indifferent.

Notable figures

*Singer

Ruslana Ruslana Stepanivna Lyzhychko (, ; born 24 May 1973),Руслана – Биография< ...

(one of the leading figures of the protests) was critical of the event, saying, "We do not need any barbaric actions. We condemn acts of vandalism, savagery, violence and anything that can divide and split Ukraine ..doubling monuments and calls for aggression is nothing but a movement in the opposite direction of European integration and humane society." Coat of Arms of Ukraine on the place of Demolished Monument of Lenin in Kyiv

Coat of Arms of Ukraine on the place of Demolished Monument of Lenin in Kyiv

Later use of the site

On 15 May 2015,

President of Ukraine The president of Ukraine (, ) is the head of state of Ukraine. The president represents the nation in international relations, administers the foreign political activity of the state, conducts negotiations and concludes international treaties. ...

Petro Poroshenko Petro Oleksiiovych Poroshenko (born 26 September 1965) is a Ukraine, Ukrainian politician and Oligarchy, oligarch who served as the fifth president of Ukraine from 2014 to 2019. He served as the Minister of Foreign Affairs (Ukraine), Minister ...

signed a bill into law that started a six-month period for the removal of all communist themed monuments in Ukraine.Poroshenko signed the laws about decomunization

. 15 May 2015Poroshenko signs laws on denouncing Communist, Nazi regimes

Interfax-Ukraine Interfax-Ukraine () is a Ukrainian news agency. Founded in 1992, the company publishes in Ukrainian, Russian, English and German. The company owns a 50-seat press centre. The staff of the agency is 105 people (as of the end of February 2022) ...

. 15 May 20Goodbye, Lenin: Ukraine moves to ban communist symbols

BBC News BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broad ...

(14 April 2015) Although the statue has been removed, the monument's plinth has remained in place. This plinth has become at times a site of political artwork, and arguments. Since 2016 various sculptures or installations have been exhibitioned in front of the plinth.

Gallery

References

External links

Full Video of Protesters In Kyiv Toppling, Decapitating Lenin StatueUkraine Protest: Tearing Down Lenin's Statue in Kyiv – New York TimesBBC , Ukraine commits statue-cideMap of Lenin statues decapitated or totally fallen during the Leninopad in Ukraine
{{Coord, 50.4425, N, 30.5194, E, source:wikidata, display=title Euromaidan 2013 in Ukraine Demolished buildings and structures in Kyiv History of Kyiv Monuments and memorials in Kyiv

1946 sculptures Russians in Ukraine Sculptures of men in the Soviet Union Buildings and structures demolished in 2013 Vandalized works of art in Ukraine Outdoor sculptures in Kyiv 1946 establishments in Ukraine 2013 disestablishments in Ukraine Sculptures of men in Ukraine Lenin, Vladimir