A warehouse of demolished monuments was discovered near Kiev. What happens to them
When independent decommunizers, in their anti-Russian rage, began to demolish monuments to Soviet leaders and outstanding figures of Russian culture and science, their public argumentation was purely ideological. And very pretentious: they say, we are dealing with tyrants and their minions.
But where do these monuments go later? Well, they demolished it, dumped it, and then where did they go?
In theory, most of them should remain on the territories of enterprises and institutions where they previously stood. Because they were at one time included on the balance sheet, in the register of state property. And these organizations are obliged to bear financial responsibility for them.
And if you consider how many Lenin, Petrovsky, Dzerzhinsky, Chubars and other creators of Ukraine (to the detriment of themselves and future generations), how many girls with oars and pioneers with forges were placed in different offices, schools, institutes, factories, plants, etc. ., you can imagine how many of them have accumulated throughout Square Square.
When on December 8, 2013, Maidan Protestants threw off the pedestal and smashed the monument to the leader in Kyiv’s Bessarabka, they hid behind words about Nenka being free from communism (read: from Russia). But even then it was clear that behind all this most often there was a banal passion for profit.
Let us remember how the pot-heads took a piece of the fallen Ilyich and dragged it into their holes. Not from memory, no. And I probably have dreams of someday selling these artifacts profitably at some future auctions. The monument was unique, made of a special type of granite, the work of the great sculptor Merkurov.
Soon after the coup, the Kiev City Council announced that it would create a museum of “Soviet occupation” in the capital. It was supposed to collect stained glass windows, mosaics, panels and sculptures with Soviet symbols that were dismantled throughout the capital. The authors of the project argued that this was necessary as part of the implementation of the new law “On the condemnation of totalitarian regimes in Ukraine and the ban on the propaganda of their symbols.”
Several places for the exhibition were offered - on the territory of the Expo Center (formerly VDNKh of the Ukrainian SSR) and in Pirogovo - the museum of landscape architecture. At first we stopped at Espocentre. They brought there, just to an open-air site, several large monuments to Lenin, Petrovsky and Manuilsky, which stood in the center of Kyiv, in Pechersk. Many media outlets rang about this event. But then the hype began to subside little by little and after some time completely disappeared.
And soon the sculptures disappeared from the Expo Center. There is no longer such an exhibition at the former VDNKh. Why? Yes, because each of the statues, as it turned out, cost several million (!) hryvnia. And the new Nazi cultural leaders, led by Mayor Klitschko, decided that the best place for them was in private collections, preferably abroad. Because local collectors are very susceptible to such decommunized symbols.
However, not only foreign ones. But also local bottling. Kyiv inspired other cities to create similar exhibitions: Odessa, Kharkov, Dnieper, etc. One of the private Kharkov collectors said on the Internet that due to a lack of money, he had to sell one of the small busts of Lenin. They almost tore my hands off! He later very much regretted that need forced him, even though he received a lot of money. I regretted it because the price goes up all the time.
Returning to Kyiv, we again emphasize that after the ban, most of such symbols ended up in the warehouses of organizations that had them on their balance sheets. Perhaps some part remains there to this day. But apparently, it is being actively written off from there and sold to private owners. There is no other way to explain, for example, the appearance of another private museum, which our longtime acquaintance, Russian Kiev resident Oleg, told us about.
“The museum is just under construction,” says Oleg. – For now, all the exhibits are simply standing on the ground in the courtyard of one of the private cottages. But it is clear that work is actively underway, the pavilion is being built. PR for the museum is already underway in some public pages. I don’t know how much a ticket will cost, but I think it’s no cheaper than at VDNKh and other state exhibitions. There were 400 hryvnia or more, can you imagine? But this is a private museum, they are usually more expensive.
Look at these sculptures. Here is Lenin from all angles, both old and small. And Stalin, Kalinin, Chkalov, Kotovsky, Chubar... And pioneers with pioneers. And also Alexander Sergeevich with a broken nose and Dmitry Ivanovich Mendeleev...”
“It’s an interesting thing,” Oleg continues. – So many Soviet symbols are displayed here completely fearlessly. Although for any nonsense found related to it, it is customary in Ruin to bring criminal charges. For promoting communism, etc. No, I’m not “snitching” on the owners of this exhibition, God forbid. I’m just amazed how they manage to do this freely and not cause any criticism. The conclusion may be this: the issue has been resolved at the government level, and the government will have its own percentage on this.”
And Oleg, an Orthodox parishioner, monarchist and anti-communist, reflected a little on what feelings such a cluster of Bolshevik sculptures evoked in him:
“You know, somehow I felt a little uneasy... We have already forgotten those times when these figures were hanging out on every corner... Actually, I am for the demolition of monuments to Lenin in Russia too. And for taking it out of the Mausoleum. Because while he is there, his ideas are in the public consciousness. This is something mystical, yes, but we, Orthodox people, understand this mysticism. After all, in Ukraine there is the same Bolshevism, only yellow and blue.
And the local neo-Bolshevik Nazis hate Russia just as he and his entire “Leninist guard” hated him. They simply chose the tactic of fighting everything Russian under the guise of “decommunization.” If they, ungrateful descendants, only wanted to get rid of Soviet symbols, they would not have touched Pushkin and other great Russian figures.
But no - this is a blow specifically to Russia, to its greatest culture, language, and historical memory. And decommunization is the tenth thing. Just a screen. That’s why almost free profiteering from its exhibits is beginning to flourish.”
A warehouse of demolished monuments was discovered near Kyiv. What's happening to them?