LENIN EXHIBITION RETURNS TO UKRAINIAN CAPITAL AFTER TWO DECADES

MOTH-EATEN SOCKS AND OTHER CLOTHES ONCE WORN BY VLADIMIR LENIN, THE LEADER OF THE 1917 BOLSHEVIK REVOLUTION, HAVE GONE ON EXHIBIT IN UKRAINE'S CAPITAL FOR THE FIRST TIME SINCE THE FORMER SOVIET REPUBLIC BECAME INDEPENDENT ALMOST TWO DECADES AGO. THE EXHIBITION, TIMES TO COINCIDE WITH THE 140th ANNIVERSARY OF LENIN'S BIRTH, WAS MADE POSSIBLE UNDER THE COUNTRY'S NEW RUSSIA-FRIENDLY PRESIDENT. IN SOVIET TIMES, DOZENS OF MUSEUMS WERE DEDICATED TO THE LIFE OF THE CHARISMATIC FOUNDER OF THE SOVIET UNION. LENINGRAD, THE CRADLE OF THE REVOLUTION NOW ONCE AGAIN CALLED ST PETERSBURG, HAD 11 OF THEM. KIEV OPENED ITS LENIN MUSEUM IN 1938, EVEN THOUGH LENIN HAD NEVER BEEN TO THE UKRAINIAN CAPITAL. BUT WHEN THE SOVIET UNION BEGAN TO DISINTEGRATE, THE COLLECTION WAS DISMANTLED AND PACKED AWAY IN VARIOUS STOREROOMS. THAT STATUE OF LENIN THAT HAD DOMINATED KIEV'S MAIN SQUARE WAS DESTROYED, AS WERE SIMILAR MONUMENTS THROUGHOUT THE COUNTRY. THE FORMER LENIN MUSEUM WAS TRANSFORMED INTO AN ARTS CENTER CALLED THE UKRAINIAN HOUSE, WHICH INHERITED THE VAST COLLECTION. 'WE TRIED TO PERSUADE THE AUTHORITIES TO REVIVE THE COLLECTION OVER THE YEARS, BUT THE ANSWER WAS ALWAYS 'IT'S NOT THE RIGHT TIME', SAID A SPOKESPERSON FOR THE MUSEUM. THE RIGHT TIME CAME AFTER VIKTOR YANUKOVYCH BECAME PRESIDENT EARLIER THIS YEAR. LIKE RUSSIA, UKRAINE HAS SEEN A RISE IN NOSTALGIA FOR THE SOVIET PERIOD, IN PART BECAUSE OF THE ECONOMIC DOWNTURN. 'THIS EXHIBITION IS NOT JUST TO SHAKE OFF THE DUST FROM THE MUSEUM'S TRASH, AND OBVIOUSLY NOT TO REVIVE LENIN'S CULT, BUT TO PUT IT INTO THE MODERN CONTEXT', THE SPOKESPERSON ADDED. 'A DIALOGUE BETWEEN PATHOS AND IRONY, PROPAGANDA AND CRITICISM, DOCUMENTARY AND MYSTIFICATION, THIS IS WHAT THE EXHIBITION IS ALL ABOUT.' THE EXHIBITION INCLUDES PAINTINGS BY MODERN ARTISTS DEPICTING MARILYN MONROE AND A HALF-NAKED MADONNA PERFORMING FOR THE BOLSHEVIKS IN A MOCKERY OF THEIR RULE. A RECONSTRUCTION OF LENIN'S ROOM AT THE KREMLIN SHOWS A TABLE AND LAMP WITH AN ICONIC GREEN GLASS SHADE, LEATHER ARMCHAIRS ON EACH SIDE. ON THE TABLE ARE WRITING MATERIALS AND VARIOUS SOUVENIRS, INCLUDING A BRONZE MONKEY THAT WAS A GIFT FROM THE AMERICAN OIL TYCOON ARMAND HAMMER. IN ADDITION TO LENIN'S OLD SOCKS, THE EXHIBITION INCLUDES THE 'KOSOVOROTKA', THE LONG PEASANT SHIRT LENIN WORE WHILE HIDING IN THE MONTHS AHEAD OF THE OCTOBER 1917 REVOLUTION, AND A COPY OF THE SUIT HE WAS WEARING WHEN SHOT DURING A FAILED ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT THE FOLLOWING YEAR. MOST OF THE PEOPLE WHO VISITED THE EXHIBITION, THE DAY AFTER THE GRAND OPENING WERE MOSTLY ELDERLY. THEY STOOD FOR LONG PERIODS IN FRONT OF THE EXHIBITS, WHICH FILLS THREE FLOORS, TAKING IN THE DETAILS OF LENIN'S LIFE.