Colina Lenin

In the Cuban town of Regla, one of the twenty municipalities in the province of Havana, lies a monument to the communist revolutionary Vladamir Lenin, the Colina Lenin.

The town gained it’s significance on January 27, 1924, the day of Lenin’s funeral in Moscow, when thousands of local Cuban people gathered on the hill on the outskirts of town to pay tribute to the former soviet leader.

The events on the hill —formerly called Loma del Fortin — inspired the socialist mayor of Regla, Antonio Bosch, to rename the hill Colina Lenin, and he planted an olive tree to commemorate the late leader. It was the first monument to honor Lenin built outside of the USSR.

Over the following years, the Colina Lenin was the stage for numerous demonstrations against some of the oppressive Cuban governments and dictatorships. The site was attacked many times, but there was particularly violent day in 1930 when during a demonstration, protesters were attacked by soldiers of President Gerardo Machado and the olive tree was cut down. (A new olive tree was planted before long.)

Sixty years after the death of Lenin, in 1984, a bronze sculpture of Lenin’s face created by the Cuban artist Thelma Marin was added to the site, and can still be seen there today. Surrounding the bronze sculpture are twelve white human figures, symbolizing solidarity with the October Revolution in Russia.

Today the site is a national monument of the Republic of Cuba, and there is a museum on the site detailing much of the history of the area.

Adapted with Permission from Andy of Go Apocalypse.