Lenin Statue of Herning

After the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, statues of Communist leader Vladimir Lenin (1870–1924) were dismantled across the former Soviet republics. Among those taking notice was Aage Damgaard, a steakhouse entrepreneur and art collector from Herning, Denmark. Inspired by these events, Damgaard decided to acquire one of the relics.

Though he passed away in 1991, Damgaard’s vision lived on through his sons. In 1994, they purchased a towering 33-foot (10-meter) Lenin bronze from Jelgava, Latvia, where it had been installed in 1974. Created by Latvian artist Otto Kalējs, the figure was sold for $10,000—on one peculiar condition: the city could buy it back within 10 years if Communism made an unexpected return.

Transporting the hefty relic from the Baltics to Denmark was no small feat. After traveling by ship and truck, the monument finally arrived in Herning, where Danish artist Sven Dalsgaard reimagined its presentation. Instead of the usual standing pose, Dalsgaard proposed Lenin be laid in state, elevated 13 feet (4 meters) off the ground on fork-like steel supports.

Efforts to display the statue in prominent spots like Tivoli Gardens in Copenhagen didn’t pan out. In 2000, it instead found an unconventional permanent home outside the headquarters of Damgaard’s steakhouse chain in the rural outskirts of Herning—adding a surreal touch to the quiet surroundings.

In 2017, the reclining Lenin took a brief detour to Smukfest, an annual Danish music festival with ties to the Damgaard family’s business. Festival organizers were quick to clarify that the sculpture wasn’t intended to glorify Lenin but rather to serve as a striking reminder of a fallen tyrant in a democratic world.