Josef Stalin and Georgia

Three years ago, this 6-meter high bronze statue of Josef Stalin, the Soviet dictator, was removed from the central square of Gori, Georgia, his birthplace, and moved to this unroofed shed. (Vera Undritz for VOA)

A smaller Stalin statue stands outside the Italianate palazzo that opened in 1957 as a memorial museum for Georgia's native son, Iosif Dzhugashvili, better known as Stalin. (Vera Undritz for VOA)

This Greco-Italianate pavilion enshrines a humble brick house, where Stalin spent the first four years of his life. The family rented one room. (Vera Undritz for VOA)

Ketino Akhobadze, the Stalin Museum Curator, has worked there since 1978 and has never seen such a flow of foreign tourists as today. (Vera Undritz for VOA)

Thủ tướng Ấn Độ Narendra Modi đón tiếp Chủ tịch Trung Quốc Tập Cận Bình tại một khách sạn ở Ahmadabad, Ấn Độ, ngày 17/9/2014.
 

Israeli tourists study Soviet era exhibits in a museum that seems to be a time capsule from half a century ago. (Vera Undritz for VOA)

After petitions and protests, Gori's City Council has allotted the money to erect the massive bronze Stalin statue in front of the Stalin Museum on December 21, the Soviet leader's birthday. (Vera Undritz for VOA)

(Vera Undritz for VOA)

The Stalin Museum abounds with Stalin busts and photos, true rarities elsewhere in the former Soviet Union. (Vera Undritz for VOA)

In 1951, two years before Stalin's death, construction started on the ornate building, a museum of local history. (Vera Undritz for VOA)

Odes to Stalin. (Vera Undritz for VOA)

A rare copy of the Stalin death mask is presented. (Vera Undritz for VOA)