Originally situated on Victory Square, having been unveiled there in 1958 to replace an earlier monument to Stalin, this striking bronze by the sculptor VB Topuridze was ‘temporarily’ removed in 2005 to allow for reconstruction work. It never returned, however, instead being installed in decidedly quieter surroundings. At its re-unveiling, Kaliningrad mayor Yuri Savenko used the occasion to send a stinging rebuke to Estonia, using the words from a Russian proverb, for their intended removal of a Soviet-era Bronze Soldier statue in Tallinn.

“Lenin is a symbol of the epoch in which our fathers and grandfathers lived. During that epoch there were not only tragic but also heroic pages (written). We cannot be like the Ivans, who do not remember relatives and roots and rewrite the history of our country (Russian proverb). We do not have to fight with history, as they do in Estonia today, where they are going to demolish the monument to the Bronze soldier - a symbol of human liberation from fascism that has stood there for the edification of future generations.”

Today the statue of Lenin stands in a quiet square in front of one of the 'Houses of Culture' while children play and people feed the pigeons.