They were named after Lenin: an asteroid, an ichthyosaur, an electric locomotive, a nuclear power plant, a subway

Even the leader’s little-known pseudonyms came in handy

Lenin – 163. The country has changed and continues to change, which he once “put on its hind legs” and organized its total “renovation”, and this person still remains the most immortalized. We have compiled a list of the most original objects and names dedicated to the “leader of the world proletariat.”

We should immediately make a reservation – we will not mention here the streets, avenues and squares bearing the name of Lenin. After all, there are such in almost every Russian city. And the vast majority of plants, factories, at the end of the official name of which is “named after V.I. Lenin”, we will also ignore: there are too many of them. Also, dozens of Leninogorsk, Leninsk and other names of settlements, where there is a “proprietary” combination of such five letters, do not attract attention. (However, we will still make one exception: in the Krasnodar Territory there is a village called very unusually – Lenin’s Bright Way.)

Of interest are original and non-obvious cases.

Let’s start from afar – from the depths of space. Somewhere in its expanses, the asteroid Vladilena was lost. It was discovered by the Russian astronomer Sergei Belyavsky, and this happened even before the revolution, at the height of the 1st World War – in 1916. Since the situation in the country at that time was extremely tense, the scientist could not manage to register the celestial body he had discovered. This was done only in 1924. Surely then, in the year of Lenin’s death, there were simply no other, non-Leninist variants of the name.

And now let’s move to other depths – temporary. Near Ulyanovsk, in ancient deposits, scientists discovered fragments of the skeletons of ancient reptiles. Research conducted by specialists allowed them to conclude that this previously unknown species of ichthyosaurs lived on the planet about 125 million years ago. Prehistoric lizards were about 6 meters long, and each of their eyes was 20 centimeters in diameter. It was decided to name such cute “animals” in honor of the most famous native of these places – Leninia.

You can come across examples of real creativity by studying the names of streets in some of our cities. They are named after Lenin, but not “on the forehead”, but with a creative approach.

In Noginsk near Moscow, there is an area where several numbered “Lenin” streets “settled” at once. 2nd Ilyicha street, 3rd Ilyicha street, 5th…, 6th…, 8th Ilyicha street.

And in the capital, Tulinskaya Street existed for almost 70 Soviet years. This toponym has nothing to do with the city of gunsmiths Tula, as some thought. In fact, the name of the street was reminiscent of one of the numerous literary pseudonyms of Vladimir Ilyich. Some of his works he signed “K. Tulin”

Several modern and very well-known objects of industry and transport bear (or bore until relatively recently) the name of Lenin, as it were, “secretly”. Judging by the polls of citizens, few people are aware of such personalization, and in the media this is practically not mentioned now.

For example, the Moscow Metro. After all, he is still “named after V.I. Lenin. Such an inscription can be seen above the entrance to the pavilions of many stations. And the authorities of the country gave the right to be “Leninist” to the metropolitan metro at the very beginning of the 1960s, when, as a result of actively carried out de-Stalinization, the Moscow metro ceased to bear the name of its “chief builder”, Stalin’s People’s Commissar Lazar Kaganovich.

The infamous Chernobyl nuclear power plant also received, after the completion of its construction, a “title” “named after V.I. Lenin.

Another large facility, which is much mentioned today in connection with the events taking place there, had a slippery “appendage” in the name – the Mariupol (formerly Zhdanovsky) metallurgical plant.

A separate group is “Leninisms” in technology.

The world’s first nuclear-powered icebreaker was named “Lenin”. He had numerous “namesakes” – river boats and liners.

Hundreds of “Lenins” worked on the railways of the USSR and continue to work on the railroads of Russia and other former Soviet republics. We are talking about the main electric locomotives of the brand “VL” – “VL-8”, “VL-11”, “VL-22”, “VL-80” … The letter designation stands for “Vladimir Lenin”.