Stalin statues are a much rarer sight than Lenins, as they were mostly
removed from public spaces after Khruschev's denunciation in 1956. I only
know of two full bodied statues "in the wild", both in his home town of Gori,
Georgia. However I've occasionally also spotted him in other places, in more limited
forms. Note that many of these, especially in Russia, are intended as active tributes
to Stalin's memory.
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Gori, Georgia (2007)
This imposing statue of Stalin dominated the town square in his home town of Gori. There was no inscription: you needed to know. And everyone did. [Statue removed June 2010]
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Gori, Georgia (2007)
A smaller and more relaxed Stalin statue, posing outside his boyhood home, near the Gori Stalin Museum.
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WWII Museum, Moscow (2009)
The Moscow WWII Museum's "Hall of Commanders" contains bronze busts of all the WWII Marshals of the Soviet Union. Stalin and Zhukov are given the best spots, but Stalin was the only one to be decorated with fresh flowers.
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Kremlin Wall, Moscow (2009)
A bust marks Stalin's grave in the Kremlin Wall, beside Lenin's Mausoleum. He stares grumpily into Red Square. Guards keep the tourist hordes at a respectful distance.
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Komsomolsk-na-Amure (2019)
Newly erected in 2018, as part of a row of WWII Soviet Marshals.
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Stalingrad Museum, Volgograd (2005)
In the Stalingrad museum, he appears only as a carpet.
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Stalin Museum, Gori (2007)
A Tsarist police mugshot of a troublesome young revolutionary.
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"Stalin's Boots", Memorial Park, Budapest (2009)
This modern sculpture commemorates the Hungarian Revolution of 1956, during which the towering 25 meter statue of Stalin in central Budapest was torn down, leaving only a pair of gigantic boots standing. This is a full scale artistic reconstruction of that epic scene, at the Memento Park, Budapest.
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Riga Motor Museum, Latvia (2009)
Stalin's armored ZIS limousine, complete with waxen back-seat passenger at the Riga Motor Museum
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Batumi (2010)
The curator's office in Batumi's Stalin Museum.
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Sochi (2010)
Stalin's Dacha, near Sochi, painted green for camouflage.
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Sochi (2010)
A waxen Stalin, still hard at work at his Dacha desk.
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Vladikavkaz (2011)
Russian Communist Party billboard: "He was a Communist! Come join us!"
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Beslan (2013)
On a minor street near the Railway Station
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I think of these statues as "disowned", as they are presented not as tributes, but as conscious rejections of the Soviet past.
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| Hungarian History Museum, Budapest (2011)
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Tirana, Albania (2018)
Lurking behind the National Art Gallery,
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Lenins
