In 2019, a bust of Soviet leader and dictator Joseph Stalin was unveiled in Novosibirsk, Russia’s third-largest city. The erection of this statue followed decades of lobbying by a local grassroots initiative. It was met with some pushback by local individuals and institutions who highlighted Stalin’s role as perpetrator… Read More
After retiring from his military career, Paul von Hindenburg, acclaimed commander of the First World War, became president of the Weimar Republic in 1925. After his election to a second term in 1932, he appointed Adolf Hitler as Chancellor and authorised decrees that enabled the Nazis to circumvent democratic… Read More
The statue for the Lithuanian writer Petras Cvirka was built not only because of his talent as a successful writer, but also due to his collaboration with the Soviet regime after the Soviet occupation in 1940. The new wave of discussions about memory, heritage objects in public spaces, and… Read More
Painted on a residential building facade in Belgrade’s Vračar district in 2021, the image of Ratko Mladić, a convicted war criminal, quickly became the most controversial street piece in Serbia. To its supporters, Mladić is a national defender, but to many others, he is a symbol of cruel violence,… Read More
A state college named after the authoritarian President Emilío Garrastuza Médici (1969-1974) has officially changed its name to Carlos Marighella, a guerrilla fighter against the Brazilian military regime (1964-1985). The current name was chosen after the college held an election in 2013, which was preceded by a series of… Read More
On November 4, 2016, a statue of Vladimir the Great or Saint Vladimir, as he is known in Russian, was unveiled by President Putin in Moscow during the millennium commemoration of Vladimir’s death (958–1015). Known as Volodymyr in Ukrainian, he is a major historical figure in both Russian and… Read More
The Karaganda Corrective Labour Camp (Karlag) was a Soviet forced labour camp located in the Karaganda region, in the central part of Kazakhstan, and operated between 1931 and 1959. The camp covered a vast area, at its largest, roughly the size of France. After its closure, the camp was… Read More
The project ‘Open Museum of Bogotá: painting in the public space’ was organised by the District Institute of Arts (IDARTES) and Urban Development Institute (IDU), with the support of the Mayor of Bogotá, Claudia López. Part of the initiative aimed to decorate eleven bridges across Bogotá, using local artists… Read More
The Kameni cvijet (Stone Flower) monument stands to honour the victims of Jasenovic, the largest concentration camp run by the Croatian Ustaša government during World War II. It took several decades to be built, primarily due to contestations between the Croatian far-right and Jewish, Serbian, and Croat anti-fascist organisations… Read More
The Bridge Costa e Silva (named after the 2nd president of Brazil’s military dictatorship) in Brasília, Brazil, was inaugurated on February 6 1976, by the military president Ernesto Geisel, connecting the ‘Lago Sul’ neighbourhood to Brasília’s downtown. Its name has been targeted by local politicians and civil society groups… Read More
In the summer of 2020, a monument to the victims of Stalinist political repression was unveiled in the city of Tayshet in Irkutsk Oblast, Russia. On July 4, 2020, the monument was vandalised and defaced, making the inscription illegible. During Soviet rule, the Gulag camp Taishetlag was located near… Read More
On Vallabhai Jhaverbhai Patel’s 143rd birthday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi unveiled India’s tribute to him in the form of the world’s tallest statue. Standing at 182 metres, the Statue of Unity is almost double the height of the Statue of Liberty. It was revealed with military celebration and Hindu… Read More