Monuments as symbols of changing eras

An imposing monument to Communist leader Vladimir Lenin, erected in May 1985, still stands in Osh’s central square. The statue itself is 11 metres high and rises on a 12-metre plinth. The originator of the project, Soviet sculptor Nikolai Tomsky, died a year before its opening. He is well-known as the artist behind many of the monuments to Lenin spread across the former Soviet Union.

Osh’s first monument to Lenin was erected on May 1^st, 1925, in front of the club in the old part of the city. Later it was removed and relocated to the city of Razzakov (formerly Isfana). Other historical monuments to Lenin once stood on the site of the current monument of the Alai queen Kurmanjan Datka and in front of the Orthodox church.

Monuments to the infamous head of the Soviet government, Joseph Stalin, disappeared from city squares and streets after the famous 20^th Congress of the Communist Party, which rebuked the cult of Stalinism. The most recognizable of them stood on the street of the same name, where the Eternal Flame memorial complex is now.

Another well-known monument to Stalin was once located at the central entrance to Toktogul Park, where it stood on a pedestal opposite a corresponding monument to Lenin. Today, huge stone bowls with flowers remain in their places.

The history of the Eternal Flame complex, which was dedicated to the Soviet military commanders who fell in the struggle against the ideological opponents of Soviet power, is interesting. Behind the Orthodox Church (which during the Soviet period was used as the House of Culture and the Regional Philharmonic Hall), memorial plates were placed with the names of the fallen. Today this part of the complex has been reformatted into a monument to the Soviet citizens who took part in the response to the Chernobyl accident in 1986.

In 2011, the “Tears of Mothers” memorial complex was erected by the northern wall of the Orthodox Church. From the monuments in the square, you can study the history of the city from the beginning of the 20^th century to the present day.