【Armenia】80-Year-Old Man Erects the World's Last Standing Lenin Statue
In the Armenian village of Lernamerdz, 80-year-old Azat single-handedly erected the world's last remaining Lenin statue, steadfastly holding onto his communist beliefs. He and the villagers celebrate communist holidays every year and collect Soviet relics, turning the village into an unusual historical attraction. Explore travel to Armenia and delve into this unique story of communist history and human connection, experiencing the striking clash of eras.
No matter how foolish an act may be, sticking to it through and through still counts as "cool", wouldn't you say? Especially for an 80-year-old man?
After the collapse of the Soviet Communist Party, Armenia became independent and bid farewell to communism. Lenin statues were torn down across the country, yet this old man funded, out of his own pocket, a trip dozens of kilometres away to the holy city of Vagharshapat to retrieve a toppled Lenin bust and erect it outside his home—making it the last Lenin statue to be raised in the world.
Azat lives in the village of Lernamerdz, where he also serves as secretary of the village's communist association. After the fall of the Soviet Union, communist countries became few and far between, yet Lernamerdz actively promotes communism. Every Labour Day, Anniversary of the October Revolution, and Lenin's birthday, villagers hold grand celebrations—so renowned that even Russian parliamentarians have graced the events with their presence.
Many consider Azat's actions foolish—or perhaps, if communism truly resembled this small village, the world might not have resisted it so fiercely.
During the Soviet era, Lenin statues were scattered throughout Armenia, yet Lernamerdz was never particularly enthusiastic about this—it had no Lenin statue and only 7 Communist Party members, making it something of an "outlier" within the country. But a few years after Armenia stepped one foot into capitalism, Azat and the villagers, longing for the good old days of communist life, brought in a Lenin statue to promote communist ideals.
Just as Azat showed me in his guestbook, one entry reads: "If this is communism, I would embrace it wholeheartedly."
Azat has collected quite a number of Soviet "relics", including coins, badges, and drinking glasses—you name it, he has it. He recounted his "glorious exploits" one by one, such as pressuring officials to preside over the Lenin statue's unveiling, and demanding that the mayor approve students wearing red scarves...
Was there ever a famous Soviet cooperative here? No.
Do villagers receive social benefits? No.
Is housing publicly owned? No.
Azat says he simply insists on promoting communist ideals—in reality, the village's social structure is no different from the outside world.
"Goodbye Lenin, Merry Christmas!" GLO Team and Au Ka-lun
If communist countries around the world were all like this small village, people probably wouldn't resist it so much. As Azat showed me in the guestbook, someone had written: "If this is what communism is, I would embrace it wholeheartedly."
DeWonder Travel will be organizing more in-depth Armenia tours, unveiling the mysteries of this smallest republic before the dissolution of the Soviet Union, and exploring her glorious history and challenges along the way.