Monument to Lenin (Orekhovo-Zuyevo)

The Monument to Lenin in Orekhovo-Zuyevo stands on Lenin Street, in a small square by the city park of culture and recreation, in the centre of this Moscow Oblast town. It was unveiled on 7 November 1933, the sixteenth anniversary of the October Revolution, and remains one of the oldest Soviet monuments in the Orekhovo-Zuyevo urban district.

History

Until 1924 the street was called Nikolskaya. That year it was renamed Lenin Street, one of the first signs of the new era in this factory town. Nine years later the monument to Vladimir Lenin itself appeared in the square of the city park.

It was made by the sculptor N. I. Shilnikov, assisted by two local artists, A. N. Shaposhnikov and V. I. Vzorov. The first figure was cast in plaster, a material that does not stand up well to open air and changing seasons. In 1970, the centenary of Lenin's birth, the plaster statue was replaced with a bronze one, which is the monument seen in the square today.

The monument in town life

In Soviet times the monument was more than a symbol of revolutionary ideas: it was a place for civic ceremonies. Next to it stood a gallery of portraits of leading workers from the factories and farms of the town and the surrounding district, and schoolchildren from across the town were admitted to the Young Pioneers here.

Residents recall a well-kept alley with a fountain leading up to the monument, with flower beds and flower vases around it, which made the square one of the showpieces of Orekhovo-Zuyevo.

Legends and accounts

Local stories link the monument to Lenin's visit to Orekhovo-Zuyevo in the autumn of 1895, when, according to tradition, he met workers of the Nikolskaya textile mill. That connection remains part of town lore rather than an established fact.

Getting there

The monument is in central Orekhovo-Zuyevo, on Lenin Street, in the square adjoining the city park of culture and recreation. It is easy to see on a walk through the park or along Lenin Street, one of the town's main streets.