Lenin's Mausoleum
Мавзолей Ленина Mavzoley Lenina | |
55°45′13″N 37°37′11″E / 55.75361°N 37.61972°E | |
Location | Moscow, Russia |
---|---|
Designer | Alexey Shchusev |
Type | Memorial |
Material | Concrete and marble |
Completion date | 10 November 1930 |
Dedicated to | Vladimir Lenin Joseph Stalin (formerly) |
Lenin's Mausoleum (from 1953 to 1961 Lenin's and Stalin's Mausoleum) (Russian: Мавзолей Ленина,
History
Two days after Vladimir Lenin's death on 21 January 1924, architect Alexey Shchusev was tasked with building a structure suitable for viewing of the body by mourners. A wooden tomb, built in Red Square close to the Moscow Kremlin Wall, was ready on 27 January, the same day Lenin's coffin was placed inside. More than 100,000 Soviet citizens visited the tomb in the next six weeks.[1] By the end of May, Shchusev had replaced the tomb with a larger, more elaborate mausoleum, and Lenin's body was transferred to a sarcophagus designed by architect Konstantin Melnikov.[2] The new wooden mausoleum was opened to the public on 1 August 1924.[2]
Pathologist
Lenin's body has been on almost continuous public display inside the mausoleum since its completion in 1930. In October 1941, during the
On 26 January 1924, the head of the
Architectural features
Project selection and construction
In January 1925, the
The basement under the sarcophagus weighed twenty tonnes. It was installed on a thick layer of sand, and guarding piles–meant to protect the tomb from vibration–were driven around the slab. Altogether 2900 m2 of polished granite was required for the construction, each square metre of which was processed for three days on average. The upper slab of red Karelian Shoksha quartzite was placed on columns of granite, whose different species were specially brought to Moscow from all the republics of the USSR.[6]
The stone mausoleum was completed October 1930, after sixteen months of construction. Compared to the previous wooden mausoleum, the new building was built three metres higher, the outer volume was increased 4.5 times – 5800 m³, and the inner volume 12 times, up to 2400 m³. Its total weight was about 10,000 tonnes. The mausoleum occupied the highest point on Red Square.[4]
During construction, both the mausoleum and the necropolis were brought to a unified architectural design: differently characterised tombstones and monuments were removed, individual and collective burials at Nikolskaya and Spasskaya Towers were united, and the fence was redesigned and installed. Guest stands for ten thousand seats were installed on either side of the mausoleum.
Interiors
The mausoleum contains a vestibule, Mourning Hall and two staircases. Opposite the entrance is a huge granite block bearing the State Emblem of the Soviet Union.[5]
Two staircases lead down from the vestibule. The left-hand staircase, measuring three meters wide, takes visitors down to the Funeral Hall. The walls of the descent are of grey labradorite. The Funeral Hall is a ten-meter cube with a stepped ceiling. A band of black labradorite runs across the entire room, on which pilasters of red porphyry are placed. Next to the pilasters are bands of bright red
The upper stepped slab of the sarcophagus is supported by four inconspicuous metal columns, which gives the impression that the slab is hanging in the air. The lower slab is covered in reddish jasper. The sarcophagus is made up of two inclined conical glasses, which are held together by a
The exit from the Funeral Hall to the right-hand staircase leads back to Red Square.
Preserving the body
One of the main problems the embalmers faced was the appearance of dark spots on Lenin's body, especially on the face and hands. They managed to solve the problem by the use of a variety of different
Until the
Contemporary
Lenin's Mausoleum is open to the public on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays from 10:00–13:00.[12] Visitors still queue to see Lenin's body, although queues are not as long as they once were. Entrance is free of charge. Before visitors are allowed to enter the mausoleum, they are searched by armed police or military guards. Visitors are required to show respect whilst inside the tomb: photography and filming inside the mausoleum are forbidden, as is talking, smoking, keeping hands in pockets or (unless female) wearing hats.[13]
Since 1991 there has been discussion about moving Lenin's body to the
Lenin's Mausoleum has undergone several changes in appearance since the collapse of the Soviet Union. One of the first noticeable was the placement of gates at the staircases leading to the tribune. After the removal of the guard, this was necessary to prevent unauthorised usage of the tribune. Beginning in 2012, the mausoleum underwent foundation reconstruction, necessitated by the construction of a building attached to the mausoleum in 1983. The new building housed an escalator used by members of the Politburo to ascend the tribune.[15] In 1995–96, when Yeltsin used the tribune, he used the staircase and not the escalator. The escalator was removed after the tribune became disused.
Following renovations, the mausoleum was reopened on 30 April 2013, in time for the 1 May celebration of "The Day of Spring and Labour". In 2018, RIA Novosti reported that Vladimir Petrov, a member of the legislative assembly of Leningrad Oblast, proposed creating a special commission in order to examine the question of the removal of Lenin's body from the mausoleum. Petrov seemed to be willing to replace the corpse with a copy made of synthetic resin.[16]
In November 2018, Sergey Malinkovich, the central committee secretary of the Communists of Russia political party, called for the criminal prosecution of Vladimir Petrov for insulting religious believers by calling for Lenin’s preserved body to be buried.[17][18] He said Petrov's proposal had violated the Criminal Code of Russia by insulting religious feelings and inciting hatred, and that he planned to "keep hounding" Petrov for his remarks.[17][18]
Honours
- The Hungarian People's Republic issued a postage stamp depicting it on 20 February 1952.
- The Soviet Union issued postage stamps depicting it in 1925, 1934, 1944, 1946, 1947, 1948, and 1949.[citation needed]
See also
- Kumsusan Palace of the Sun
- Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum
- Kremlin Wall Necropolis
- Tampere Lenin Museum
- Chairman Mao Memorial Hall
- Pyramid of Tirana
- House of Flowers
- Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum
- Che Guevara Mausoleum
- Santa Ifigenia Cemetery
- Sükhbaatar's Mausoleum
- Georgi Dimitrov Mausoleum
- National Monument in Vitkov
- Mustafa Kemal Atatürk's Mausoleum
- Mausoleum of Ruhollah Khomeini
- Raj Ghat
- Mazar-e-Quaid
- Bourguiba mausoleum
- Türkmenbaşy Ruhy Mosque
- Artigas Mausoleum
- Martyrs' Mausoleum, Yangon
- Mausoleum of Arafat
- Leninism
- Marxism–Leninism
References
- ISBN 978-1780232263.
- ^ ISBN 978-0674524316.
- ^ ISBN 978-1400888177.
- ^ a b "Усыпальница вождя: Мавзолей Ленина в архивных кадрах" [The tomb of the leader: Lenin's mausoleum in archival footage]. РИА Новости (in Russian). 2 November 2017. RIA Novosti: State-owned news agency. Archived from the original on 18 November 2021. Retrieved 2 September 2021.
- ^ )
- )
- ^
Zbarsky, Ilya; Hutchinson, Samuel (1999). Lenin's Embalmers. Harvill Press. p. 215. ISBN 1860465153.
- ^ Milton 2015, p. 8 "...the corpse was immersed for many weeks in a special solution that contained glycerol and acetate..."
- ISBN 978-1473608900.
- ^ Mark McDonald (1 March 2004). "Lenin Undergoes Extreme Makeover". Associated Press. Retrieved 19 April 2010.[dead link] (alternative url Archived 4 July 2010 at the Wayback Machine)
- ^ "На сохранение тела Ленина в 2016 году истратят более 13 млн рублей" [More than 13 million rubles will be spent on preserving Lenin's body in 2016]. News Ru (in Russian). 6 December 2017. Retrieved 23 September 2022.
- ^ "Visiting the Diamond Fund, the Grand Kremlin Palace and Lenin's Mausoleum". www.kreml.ru. Retrieved 28 June 2020.
- ^ "Расписание работы Мавзолея В.И. Ленина" [Opening hours of the Mausoleum of V.I. Lenin] (in Russian). Federal Protective Service (Russia). Archived from the original on 23 April 2019. Retrieved 6 December 2017.
- ^ See, e.g., a statement by President Putin in Sankt-Peterburgsky Vedomosty, 19 July 2001.
- ^ Yelkov, Ígor (9 January 2013). "Lenin's Mausoleum Closed for Renovation". Rossiyskaya Gazeta.
- ^ "Депутат предложил заменить тело Ленина в Мавзолее копией". 14 November 2018.
- ^ a b "Communists' Religious Feelings Were Violated by Proposal to Replace Lenin's Body, Party Official Says". The Moscow Times. 27 November 2018.
- ^ a b Brendan Cole (28 November 2018). "Communists' Religious Feelings Hurt by Lenin Burial Bid". Newsweek.
External links
- Virtual Mausoleum Archived 16 June 2020 at the Wayback Machine