Editing Iconoclasm (section)

===In the Soviet Union===
[[File:Christ saviour explosion.jpg|thumb|Demolition of the [[Cathedral of Christ the Saviour]], in [[Moscow]], Russia, 5 December 1931]]
During and after the [[October Revolution]], widespread destruction of religious and secular imagery in Russia took place, as well as the destruction of imagery related to [[House of Romanov|the Imperial family]]. The Revolution was accompanied by destruction of monuments of [[tsar]]s, as well as the destruction of [[Coat of arms of Russia|imperial eagles]] at various locations throughout [[Russian Empire|Russia]]. According to [[Christopher Wharton]]:<ref>Christopher Wharton, [http://www.westminstercollege.edu/myriad/index.cfm?parent=2514&detail=4475&content=4797 "The Hammer and Sickle: The Role of Symbolism and Rituals in the Russian Revolution"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100528035402/http://www.westminstercollege.edu/myriad/index.cfm?parent=2514&detail=4475&content=4797|date=2010-05-28}}</ref><blockquote>In front of a Moscow Cathedral, crowds cheered as the enormous statue of Tsar [[Alexander III of Russia|Alexander&nbsp;III]] was bound with ropes and gradually beaten to the ground. After a considerable amount of time, the statue was decapitated and its remaining parts were broken into rubble.</blockquote>The [[Soviet Union]] actively destroyed religious sites, including [[Russian Orthodox]] churches and [[Jewish cemeteries]], in order to discourage religious practice and curb the activities of religious groups.

During the [[Hungarian Revolution of 1956]] and during the [[Revolutions of 1989]], protesters often attacked and took down sculptures and images of [[Joseph Stalin]], such as the [[Stalin Monument (Budapest)|Stalin Monument]] in [[Budapest]].<ref>{{cite news|last=Auyezov|first=Olzhas|title=Ukraine says blowing up Stalin statue was terrorism|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-ukraine-stalin-idUSTRE7043D920110105|work=Reuters|access-date=9 April 2011|date=January 5, 2011}}</ref>

The fall of Communism in 1989–1991 was also followed by the destruction or removal of statues of [[Vladimir Lenin]] and other Communist leaders in the [[former Soviet Union]] and in other [[Eastern Bloc]] countries. Particularly well-known was the destruction of "[[Monument to Felix Dzerzhinsky, Moscow|Iron Felix]]", the statue of [[Felix Dzerzhinsky]] outside the [[KGB]]'s headquarters. Another statue of Dzerzhinsky was destroyed in a [[Warsaw]] square that was named after him during [[communist Poland|communist rule]], but which is now called [[Bank Square, Warsaw|Bank Square]].