Vans Europe in partnership with Free Skate Mag just released a new video project: Lenin Plaza.
The idea and concept behind this project was to only skate and film at plazas, monuments and statues dedicated to Vladimir Lenin. Pretty cool way to plan your next skate trip to Russia while learning about Russian history.
Lenin was one of the top leaders of the Russian Revolution (October 1917) and after his death, all the way up to the Soviet breakup, Lenin was idolised and memorialised all around the USSR (soviet Russia has around 15,000 Lenin statues and monuments). Pretty much every city and almost every village all around the country has a street and square named after Lenin.When the USSR collapsed, for most regular Russian people Lenin became a symbol of the misled past, but newborn street cultures made his monuments their home. Central locations, big pedestrian areas around the monuments, good flatground and skate-friendly architecture made of marble and granite blocks were some of the reasons why skaters gravitated towards them and they rapidly became the first go-to spots where skaters would meet and hang out.
The Lenins were skated by Alexey Krasniy with guest appearances from Vans Russia’s Dima Shatalov, Alexey Meleshko, Denis Yuzefovich, Eugene Nikolaev and Roma Ivanov.
The project was filmed and edited by Dmitry Kononov. Still photography by Alexey Lapin. Produced by Kirill Korobkov.
Song: “И Вновь Продолжается Бой” written by Alexandra Pakhmutova and Nikolai Dobronravov performed by Grazhdanskaya oborona.
The Vans Russia Skate Team Presents – Lenin Plaza
