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Lenin monument

The largest granite monument to Lenin in the former USSR, as well as the largest monument in Karaganda city was erected in 1970 in order to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the birth of V. I. Lenin.  Its authors are local architects S. Mordvintseva, E. Efanova, E. Melikova and sculptors N. Lavinskiy and Y. Gummel. It took them more than four years to finish working at the grandiose monument to the leader of the working class revolution. The twelve-meter-tall monument weighs 202 tonnes.

Until recently the monument had been located in the central street of Karaganda, Bukhar-Zhyrau avenue (in past – Soviet avenue). However, despite the active protests on the part of local communists and some ordinary Karaganda residents, it was disassembled and moved to the new place in 2010. Now one can see Lenin in the garden square on the corner of Mustafin street and Lenin avenue in the vicinity of Lenin cinema, oldest one in the region and surprisingly still bearing the name of the famous revolutionary. Its old spot is now taken by the obelisk erected to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the independence of Kazakhstan.