Tallinn Trip – Soviet Statue Graveyard (Statue of Vladimir Lenin That Never Went on Display)

Well this was a bloody waste of money, but for reasons unknown the communist authorities were still merrily ordering statues of Lenin in the late 1980s. This one was designed by Matti Varik between 1987 and 1988, ready to put somewhere prominent in Tallinn. Unfortunately for all concerned, by the time they had got around to thinking about where to put it, Estonia broke free of Soviet oppression and went independent. At that point, it was evident that a statue of Lenin wasn’t going to go down well in Tallinn, although in reality it’s not clear if anyone really wanted it before independence. It was stored in the monumental sculpture studio of the artists’ union ARS for some years and then it came to this museum in 2008. Part of the reason that I really engaged with this collection of statues and memorials is that I liked understanding their previous placement and relevance to their surroundings, but this one is quite different. Although I still like the story that it tells, the naivety of the authorities that they thought that this was ever a good idea.