Revisiting Vladimir Lenin’s Mausoleum
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In the spring of 1969 I spent ten days visiting the former Soviet Union as a part of a study abroad trip with a group of other students and teachers from the nine universities that made up the Wisconsin State University System.
Moscow was, of course, one of the cities included in the trip. We stayed in a hotel right off of Red Square and most of us had rooms that overlooked Moscow’s famous Red Square.
Moscow is almost as far north as Juneau, Alaska which means that Moscow is usually still quite cold in March and the sun, even when there are no clouds, never rises very high in the sky making every day seem dreary. Also, in addition Moscow not being a winter tourist destination, this was during the Cold War which further limited tourism. So it is not surprising that our group was able to get a good deal on a hotel.
In those days Lenin’s Tomb was the focal point of Red Square, the large red brick plaza in front of the Kremlin the walls of which housed (and still do) the Soviet (now Russian) government. Back then, Lenin’s Tomb had a military honor guard that was on duty round the clock and which was changed every hour, exactly on the hour, with military precision unequaled anywhere.
As the clock on the corner tower of the Kremlin approached the hour, the replacement guard would exit their booth and march smartly to the tomb located along the middle of the wall. Arriving at the entrance of the tomb they would perform the formal changing of the guard routine in which the guards on duty and their replacements would present arms, then change places with exacting precision. The precision was such that the replacement guards on either side of the entrance would step into their position, do an about face from the wall and snap to attention at the exact moment that the minute hand on the large clock on the tower moved to the 12. They would then stand in that rigid position, staring straight ahead for the next hour when they were relieved.
Every morning local Moscow Communist Party leaders, carrying two or three huge floral bouquets, would solemnly lead a long procession from the opposite side of the square to the entrance of the tomb where they would deposit the bouquets at the entrance, remove the ones from the previous day and formally open the tomb for the day’s visitors.
The party leaders would then leave but the rest of the line, consisting of local factory workers sent to visit the tomb that day, would remain. Tour groups would then be led to the head of the line to enter the tomb with minimal wait while the local workers remained behind to ensure that there was always a long line seen waiting to enter the tomb.
When Vladimir Lenin died on January 21, 1924, the Soviet authorities decided to preserve his body. This was done with a chemical process that has to keep being re-done regularly but has worked so far. The tomb was originally made of wood but the current marble mausoleum replaced it in 1930. During the communist era many thought that the body was a fake but, with the fall of communism, we have learned that the body in the tomb is the real body of Lenin and that its preservation is being maintained by members and descendants of the same team that did the original embalming.
Thirty-four years later, and after the fall of communism and the dissolution of the Soviet Union, I visited Moscow again with my Russian born wife. We were staying in my wife’s hometown and were visiting Moscow on a Saturday. We arrived in mid-morning to find Red Square temporarily closed as the area around the tomb was reserved for wedding photos. Actually, the big crowds were around the corner along a side wall of the Kremlin which contains the tomb of the unknown Russian solder of World War II (known in Russia as the Great Patriotic War). This tomb was the wedding photo spot for most while Lenin’s Tomb must have been the choice of youth from old communist families.
Red Square opened about noon but, being Saturday, Lenin’s tomb was closed. Gone was the round the clock military honor guard. It has been replaced by a single, part-time, rent-a-cop. The hours for touring the tomb have been shortened considerably and the only flowers are those brought by an occasional admirer. The Saturday we were there, the entrance was locked, the guard gone and the only flower was a single, half dead, lily that had been dropped on the step in front of the door.
The military honor guard, bouquets and admiring crowds were all found along the side wall paying their respects to the soldier who has come to symbolize the thousands who gave their lives fighting to defend Mother Russia from the Nazis.
As for the aging corpse in the tomb on Red Square, the embalmers think they can keep the body preserved at least until 2024, the one hundredth anniversary of its owner’s demise. But the crowds are gone and public opinion among those under 50 increasingly favors removing the body to a less conspicuous location as was done with Josef Stalin’s body following his fall from favor.
Chuck Nugent
Very interesting reading. Thanks for the great story. We look forward to more like this one.
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