VI Lenin in Balykchi – Kyrgyzstan

Posted on 04/08/2025 by Michael

VI Lenin in Balykchi – Kyrgyzstan – 03

VI Lenin in Balykchi – Kyrgyzstan

This is an unusual monument to VI Lenin – or at least I haven’t seen anything similar.

Here we have an image of the head of Vladimir Ilyich in a metal frame that sits on the roof of a building on the edge of Balykchi.

VI Lenin in Balykchi – Kyrgyzstan – 02

How it’s constructed I’m unable to say as I wasn’t able to get any closer than looking up from the street. Whether it’s possible to get up on the roof I also can’t say – bad planning meaning I was pushed for time and couldn’t investigate any options.

VI Lenin in Balykchi – Kyrgyzstan – 04

The building is now a driving school but don’t know what it might have been during Soviet times which merited such a roof top decoration. The image appears to be in a good condition so someone must have taken care of the framework over the decades.

VI Lenin in Balykchi – Kyrgyzstan – 01

(A lot of ‘unknowns’ here, sorry for the lack of any more information.)

Location;

The building is alongside the A363, on the western edge of the town, about 200m from, and on the same side as, the bus station.

GPS;

42.45146 N

76.17081 E

VI Lenin in Karakol – Kyrgyzstan

Posted on 29/06/2025 by Michael

VI Lenin in Karakol, Kyrgyzstan

VI Lenin in Karakol – Kyrgyzstan

The only remaining statue of VI Lenin in Karakol, a town on the southern shore of Lake Issyk Kul in eastern Kyrgyzstan, is one that stands facing the large, open square between the University building and the public park in the centre of the town.

Although Comrade Lenin looks down on the square where, in the Soviet past, there would have been various parades and celebrations, and was therefore placed in a ‘suitable’ location, the proportions make the statue look somewhat out of place.

The statue of VI Lenin is life size yet he has been placed on a very tall pillar making him look somewhat lost so high up. The fact that he is located at the end of an avenue across the road from the square further distances him from any events that would have taken place there – a square which itself stretches into the distance.

Further, the statue has suffered the ‘golden treatment’, having been given a coat of gold paint. As I see more of this treatment of Lenin statues I’m starting to wonder if this treatment is a sign of respect or just the reverse. I still haven’t been to decide which not having seen what the original was like, pre-1990 and the so-called ‘independence’ of Kyrgyzstan. That conclusion has been made more difficult due to the fact that (in the summer of 2025) statues of Lenin are being removed in Kyrgyzstan at an increasing rate.

Location;

On the corner of Gebze Street and Tynystanova Street.

GPS;

42.49161 N

78.40014 E

VI Lenin – Naryn – Kyrgyzstan

Posted on 26/06/2025 by Michael

VI Lenin – Naryn, Kyrgyzstani

VI Lenin – Naryn – Kyrgyzstan

I don’t know if someone in this part of the world has come across a big load of gold and silver paint but this seems to be the favourite colour to paint many of the existing statues of VI Lenin that remain in Kyrgyzstan (as well as often in Kazakhstan and Russia).

One of the most recent to be ‘discovered’ sits inside the surrounding fence of the Zhastrar sports centre in the southern Kyrgyz town of Narayn. Presently the sports centre is closed – and looks like it has been for some time. By it’s location – right next to the town’s sports stadium – I would assume that during the Soviet period this would have been to town’s public sports centre. Since the early 1990’s investment in any repairs or modernisation probably dried up and the place became unusable. This is, unfortunately, a story that has been repeated across many post-Socialist countries and cities. Newer sporting developments might open up but these will be private and not available to the general population.

It was quite common for statues of VI Lenin to be placed outside such venues, as well as schools and other places of education, so its no real surprise that he stands in this location. However, when the building was fenced off from the public Vladimir Ilyich was caught up in the project and now it is no longer possible to get really close the ‘Founder of the USSR’ – as it says on the plaque on the plinth on which he stands.

Although having been covered in an inappropriate paint – and not carried out exceptionally well and not particularly with an expert brush – the statue looks in a reasonably good condition.

As is usual I have no details about the statue; date of inauguration; reason for being erected; or any information on the sculptor. (I’m beginning to realise they are generic and were just churned out of the factory but there must have been actual sculptors who made the original moulds. Who they were I have no clue.)