Home > Huge tribute to Lenin visible on Google Earth
A giant tribute to the former Soviet leader Vladimir Lenin made from thousands of trees has been spotted on Google Earth.
by Matthew Moore
The message, which translates as "Lenin is 100", was cut into a forest in a remote region of Siberia. Each letter is around 80 metres high, and the entire message stretches for 600 metres.
It was created by Russian woodcutters in 1970 to mark the centenary of the Communist leader’s birth, according to EnglishRussia, the blog which spotted the image.
Despite the passing of 38 years it has kept its coherent shape, and is now clearly visible on Google Maps and Earth, the internet giant’s satellite mapping services.
The blog says that the reasons for the large scale topiary are unclear, but that it could have been intended as a tongue-in-cheek message of national pride to be picked up by American spy satellites.
The first ever Earth Day, a celebration to raise awareness of environmental issues, was held on Lenin’s birthday April 22 in 1970, which could be another clue towards the message’s origins.
The tribute was cut into a forest close to the town of Zverinogolovskoye in the south west of Siberia, near the border with Kazakhstan.
Lenin was the main leader of the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution, and headed the Soviet state until his death in 1924.