thumb|upright=1.2|The Mandela Way Tank in November 2020
The Mandela Way T-34 Tank, nicknamed Stompie, is a decommissioned Soviet-built T-34-85 medium tank, formerly located on the corner of Mandela Way and Page's Walk in Bermondsey, London, England. The tank was regularly repainted in a wide variety of colour schemes, often by graffiti artists. In January 2022 it was removed for restoration, and its owner stated in April 2023 that it may not return to its former location due to concerns that the graffiti may affect its historical preservation.
History
The tank is a former Czechoslovak People's Army tank that is rumoured to have taken part in the suppression of the Prague Spring uprising in 1968. for £7,000 as a present for his son. He had previously failed to secure planning permission from Southwark Council to redevelop a vacant plot of land that he owned; and so, in an act of humorous protest, he placed the tank on the site, with its gun turret turned towards the council offices. He had previously allegedly obtained permission for the installation of a "tank" there, assumed by council officials to mean a septic tank.
It was removed for restoration by its owner, on 4 January 2022, who said that "it might be a week, it might be two years". In April 2017 it was temporarily repainted by artist Charlotte Meldon to its authentic military olive drab. In April 2020, during the coronavirus pandemic, it was painted sky blue in support of the National Health Service. Remembrance poppies were added in November 2020. In July 2021, it was repainted light green with dark green letters reading "Go Go Green".
Gallery
<gallery>
File:MandelaWayT34.jpg|The tank in its original military olive drab colour
File:PinkTank20050326 2.jpg|Painted pink in 2002
File:Bermondsey Tank.jpg|In a black and cream swirling design, December 2008
File:Mandela Way T-34 Tank 9.jpg|June 2009
File:Graffiti4hire-tank.jpg|2009 design inspired by US yellow cabs
File:T-34 Tank (7327610472).jpg|May 2012
File:Mandela Way T34 Tank 2014.jpg|November 2014
File:Mandela Way T-34 Tank in 2016.jpg|February 2016
File:Stompie Tank.jpg|March 2017
File:T-34 STOMPIE.jpg|Painted olive drab, April–July 2017
File:Stompie 1st May 2019.jpg|May 2019
File:Stompie 2020.jpg|March 2020
File:Stompie May 2020 (2).jpg|May 2020 in support of the NHS
File:Stompie Nov 2020 (1).jpg|November 2020, with remembrance poppies added to the turret
</gallery>
Similar graffitied tanks
thumb|Tanks at the [[National Museum of the History of Ukraine in the Second World War, Kyiv]]
There are also T-62 and T-80UD tanks that have been graffitied in a hippie manner at the National Museum of the History of Ukraine in the Second World War, Kyiv, Ukraine.
The Monument to Soviet tank crews was a memorial located in Prague, Czech Republic, made up of an IS-2m tank on a pedestal. In 1991, the artist David Cerny painted the tank pink and hoisted a large middle finger over the turret in protest against the controversial monument. The monument was later removed and the tank is now displayed at Military Museum Lešany, painted pink.