Lenin Still Causing Controversy in the 3rd Millennium
by Tom Gross, European Correspondent
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Blowing Snow
Edward Andrzejewski
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There’s a
furor in Finland after an art museum
announced plans to put up a statue of Lenin, just after the last Lenin statue in eastern Europe has come tumbling down.
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Museum
directors and city officials throughout the former Soviet empire have spent much of the last decade hauling down the massive
monuments to the communist leader. The Helsinki Arts Museum, however, has spent $9,000 of public funds to bring an enormous
granite bust of Lenin from the nearby Russian province of Kaliningrad.
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The Soviet Power
Vladimir Krivonosov
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The Close of Life
Eleni Traganas
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Whereas some Finns remain grateful to the first Soviet leader for granting Finland independence in 1917 after more than 100
years of Russian rule, many Finnish politicians have denounced the move as "sick." Millions died under Lenin's rule. But the
museum director, Tuula Karjalainen, has defended her decision. "It's an important piece of historical art," she said, "and not meant
as a statue to honor Lenin."
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The cult that the Communists created around Lenin led them to build hundreds of "Lenin Museums" in his honor, but one former
Lenin Museum is flourishing in a new guise. Whereas most have since been closed, the former Lenin museum in Krasnoyarsk,
Siberia, has undergone a miraculous transformation, and been voted Best Museum in Europe by the Council of Europe.
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The Fountain
Douglas Jamieson
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The museum's five stories have been purged of most references to Lenin and his Communist revolution, and replaced with
exhibitions of modern art and Siberian history. Only one of the museum's former Lenin statues remains -- a 65-ton statue in the
foyer, which is "too heavy to move."
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Read our archived Art in the News |
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