Statue of Lenin (Seattle)

The Statue of Lenin in Seattle is a 16 foot bronze sculpture of Russian Communist revolutionary Vladimir Lenin located in the Fremont neighborhood.

The statue was constructed by a Slovak Bulgarian sculptor, Emil Venkov, under commission from the Soviet and Czechoslovak governments. While following the bounds of his commission, Venkov intended to portray Lenin as a bringer of revolution, in contrast to the traditional portrayals of Lenin as a philosopher and educator. His Lenin marches ahead fiercely, surrounded by torrid flames and symbols of war.

Venkov's work was completed and installed in Poprad, Czechoslovakia (now Slovakia), in 1988, shortly before the fall of Czechoslovak communism during the 1989 Velvet Revolution. Despite popular belief, perhaps reinforced by toppling of Saddam's statue, the Poprad Lenin was not toppled "in the mass demonstrations that shook the Soviet bloc during the fall of communism".Fact|date=November 2007 Instead, it was quietly removed from Lenin's Square, in front of Poprad's main hospital, several months after the Velvet Revolution.

Lewis E. Carpenter, a resident of Issaquah, Washington teaching English in Poprad, found the monumental statue lying in a scrapyard ready to be sold for the price of the bronze. In close collaboration with a local journalist and good friend, Tomáš Fülöpp, Carpenter approached the city officials with a claim that despite its current unpopularity, the sculpture was still a work of art worth preserving, and he offered to buy it for $13,000. After many bureaucratic hurdles, he finally signed a contract with the mayor on March 16, 1993 (see the [http://www.vacilando.org/index.php?x=5603 original article, in Slovak] ).

Working with the original sculptor, the statue was professionally cut in three pieces and shipped to the United States at a total cost of $41,000. Lewis Carpenter financed much of that via mortgaging his home.

On February 18, 1994 in the midst of the uproar in Seattle that was set off by his import of a statue of a communist leader, Lewis Carpenter was killed in a car accident (see the [http://www.vacilando.org/index.php?x=9863 original announcement in Slovakia] ), leaving the statue in the hands of his estate, lying in his backyard. The family contacted a local brass foundry, who offered to move it off the property. In 1995 the statue was first placed in Fremont at the corner of N 34th St & Evanston Ave N, one block south of a salvaged Cold War rocket fuselage, another artistic Fremont attraction. It now stands two blocks northward at the intersection of Evanston Ave N, N 36th St, and Fremont Place, outside a Taco del Mar and an ice cream parlor.

The Carpenter family continues to seek a buyer for the statue. The asking price as of 2006 is $250,000, up from a 1995 price tag of $150,000.

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References

* [http://www.fremontseattle.com/urb_frameset.htm Fremont Chamber of Commerce: Urban Myths]
* [http://www.vacilando.org/index.php?x=3565 Lenin of Poprad: The Story] (original Slovak articles and photos, most of them by Tomáš Fülöpp, who worked with Lewis Carpenter on securing the statue in Slovakia in 1992-1993)
* [http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=seattle+lenin&l=commderiv The Seattle Lenin] photos at Flickr
*Murakami, Kery. [http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/202341_lenin04.html "Lenin is the star attraction at an only-in-Fremont holiday lighting,"] "Seattle P-I", December 4, 2004.
* [http://www.roadsideamerica.com/attract/WASEAlenin.html Seattle Lenin] at Roadside America (page not found)
*Murakami, Kery. [http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/201257_vcenter26.html "Fremont merchants plan to light up Lenin this season,"] "Seattle P-I", November 26, 2004.
* [http://arfarfarf.com/fremont/lenin_statue.php Artists' Republic of Fremont: Lenin Statue]
*Brooks, Diane. [http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2001960573_fremont20m.html "Free spirits frolic at Fremont festivities,"] "Seattle Times", June 20, 2004.