One day in 2003, the controversial Russian artist Alexander Kosolapov erected a life-sized statue of Vladimir Ilich Lenin in Moscow. The work depicted Lenin -- the founder of the Bolshevik party, the leader of the Russian Revolution, and the first head of the USSR -- with the head of Mickey Mouse.

[Kosolapov, who called his work a celebration of the "heritage of socialist realism," once won a landmark court battle with Coca Cola after the company objected to his use of its logo in a poster which also featured Lenin.]