Statue of Lenin

3526 Fremont Pl N, Seattle, WA 98103, USA

One of Fremont’s more unusual pieces of public art is a 16-foot-tall bronze statue of Bolshevik Russian Communist revolutionary Vladimir Lenin. The statue was constructed by a Slovak Bulgarian sculptor, Emil Venkov, on commission from the Soviet and Czechoslovak governments, and installed in Poprad, Czechoslovakia (now Slovakia), shortly before the fall of Czechoslovak communism during the 1989 Velvet Revolution. Lenin was quietly removed and was lying in a scrapyard to be sold as scrap metal when Washington resident Lewis E. Carpenter found it. The statue was cut into three pieces and shipped to the U.S. at a cost of $41,000. Amidst the uproar in Seattle caused by importing a statue of a communist leader, Lewis Carpenter was killed in a car accident, and a local foundry offered to move it from the Carpenter home to a public square; nowadays, Fremont residents whimsically decorate him in red lights for the holidays. If you take a fancy to it, it’s for sale: the asking price as of 2006 was $250,000.

More Recommendations

Lean On Lenin in Fremont

One of Fremont’s more unusual pieces of public art is a 16-foot-tall bronze statue of Bolshevik Russian Communist revolutionary Vladimir Lenin. The statue was constructed by a Slovak Bulgarian sculptor, Emil Venkov, on commission from the Soviet and Czechoslovak governments, and installed in Poprad, Czechoslovakia (now Slovakia), shortly before the fall of Czechoslovak communism during the 1989 Velvet Revolution. Lenin was quietly removed and was lying in a scrapyard to be sold as scrap metal when Washington resident Lewis E. Carpenter found it. The statue was cut into three pieces and shipped to the U.S. at a cost of $41,000. Amidst the uproar in Seattle caused by importing a statue of a communist leader, Lewis Carpenter was killed in a car accident, and a local foundry offered to move it from the Carpenter home to a public square; nowadays, Fremont residents whimsically decorate him in red lights for the holidays. If you take a fancy to it, it’s for sale: the asking price as of 2006 was $250,000.

Information on this page, including website, location, and opening hours, is subject to have changed since this page was last published. If you would like to report anything that’s inaccurate, let us know at notification@afar.com.

Nearby highlights
Sign up for our newsletter
Join more than a million of the world’s best travelers. Subscribe to the Daily Wander newsletter.
More From AFAR