п. Ленину
The Lenin monument at the intersection of Karl Marx and Lenin Street is neither the only nor oldest monument to the Bolshevik leader in Irkutsk, but its prominence in the visual landscape of the city, its history dating back to 1952, and its preserved status as an object of cultural significance make it a centerpiece of Irkutsk. The monument was designed by People’s Artist of the USSR Nikolai Tomsky in 1952 on the former site of a Lutheran church. It served as a meeting place and rallying point on major Soviet holidays.
Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, no street names in Irkutsk were changed and no monuments were removed from public spaces. This square around this Lenin monument has since been renovated in 2008.
With its continued presence in the city, how do citizens of Irkutsk view this monument to Lenin in 2018? Is it a relic of history, a piece of nostalgia, an eyesore to be removed, or does it still play an active role in the city and in the lives of Irkutians? In a city where Soviet street names and monuments have remained, have the relationships between the citizens and this historical legacy in contemporary life changed over time?
Irkutsk State University (ISU) historian and professor Alexei Viktorovich Petrov has lectured on this topic in the context of Irkutsk in both public lectures and in his classes. In an interview conducted for this project, Alexei Viktorovich provided a background of this monument and answered many questions pertinent to this project. In Irkutsk, the relationship one has with the monument is largely tied to one’s past experience with it and thus when discussing a Soviet monument, older citizens have more associations with it than younger people. Among our group of early twenty-year-old tutors studying at ISU, most do not think about the monument on a daily basis and it blends into the landscape as they pass it daily. Alexei Viktorovich pointed out that during the Soviet Union, the monument was a focal point of activity and organization, as such, aside from being a center of Soviet history, many citizens formed memories and had formidable experiences that are still tied to the Lenin monument. This sense of affection and connection is even stronger in those who retain the ideological dedication. In the opinion of Alexei Viktorovich and as expressed in local polls conducted in the daily newspapers, there is little conflict over the monument to Lenin and general agreement that it should remain where it is in the center of the city.
