From Cuba to Kolkata and the mountains of Kyrgyzstan, we look at 22 of the most striking monuments to Vladimir Lenin still standing a century after his Bolshevik revolution.
Leftover Lenins
1
Talas, Kyrgyzstan: Lenin's glare locked in concrete on a dam on the Kirov Reservoir.
2
Ashgabat, Turkmenistan: Lenin looking rather like a lonely groom on a Central Asian cake.
3
Ulan Bator, Mongolia: A heavy bust of Lenin gives this pool hall a dose of ironic cool.
4
Havana, Cuba: A strained-looking Lenin above a crowd of figures reportedly symbolizing Cuban solidarity with Russia. The monument was (somewhat fittingly) built in 1984.
5
Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan: This Lenin will be gesturing for a while to come -- the Baikonur space port has been leased to Russia until 2050.
6
A statue of (the staunchly atheist) Lenin looking out over Kyrgyz Muslims praying in central Bishkek. Lenin monuments still stand in most Kyrgyz towns, unlike in much of the rest of Central Asia, where statues of the revolutionary are now snow-leopard rare.
7
Yakutsk, Russia: A long-suffering Lenin in the coldest city on earth, where winter temperatures regularly drop below -50 Celsius.
8
Volgograd, Russia: Part Leningrad, part Las Vegas -- this Lenin pediment is highlighted with neon.
9
Moscow, Russia: Lenin in red outside a suburban train station.
10
Kolkata, India: In 1969 this snugly dressed Lenin statue was erected in the midst of a sizzling-hot dry season. Kolkata has long been a stronghold of the hard left, as evidenced by the numerous hammer-and-sickle emblems painted throughout the city.
11
St. Petersburg, Russia: Lenin's smooth pate gets a sponging as a worker prepares him for the centenary of the Bolshevik Revolution.
12
Seattle, U.S.: A 7-ton Lenin monument that was shipped out of Slovakia in 1993 by Lewis Carpenter, an American English teacher. The year after the Lenin was exported, Carpenter died in a car crash. His family is seeking a buyer for the bronze monument; the last listed price was $250,000.
13
Berlin, Germany. In the heart of the European Union, Lenin lives on above a phalanx of Red Army soldiers at the Soviet War Memorial in Treptower Park.
14
Lenin Peak, Tajikistan: A little Lenin on the mighty plinth of the 7,134 meter-high mountain, which straddles Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan.
15
Svalbard, Norway: This Lenin in the center of the Russian mining community of Barentsburg has a 1,000-yard stare that seems fitting for the Arctic wilderness he overlooks.
16
Istaravshan, Tajikistan: This godzilla-sized Lenin somehow ended up on a hill in what might politely be called a one-horse town.
17
Kunashir, Russia: A photo from 1989 of the Lenin monument that still stands on one of the islands of the Kurile chain that is claimed by Japan but remains in Russian control.
18
Tiraspol, Moldova: A marble Lenin in front of the central administration building of Transdniester. Public funds pay for the upkeep of Soviet monuments in the breakaway region.
19
Lida, Belarus: A Lenin after being splashed with blood-red paint in 2016.
20
Gagra, Georgia: Lenin looms over young Russians glued to their tablets in the foyer of a Soviet-era sanatorium in the breakaway region of Abkhazia.
21
Hanoi, Vietnam: Lenin looking a little clay-footed behind the nimble-stepping youngsters practicing dance routines on Lenin square.
22
Moscow, Russia: Then, of course, there's Lenin in the (heavily embalmed) flesh, who remains in state inside this mausoleum on Red Square 100 years after his revolution and 93 years after his death.