Body of VI Lenin

[sovvisor]

Hi
I´m going to Moscow next week and I relized that I don´t know if be body of the great leader still are in the mausoleum for display. Does anyone know if I´m going to see him or not?
Best

[Dave]

Not to rain on your day, but everytime I've been to Red Square (which was quite a few times over a year and a half!) the Tomb was closed. Only once, back in early 1992, did I see it open.

--Dave

[Nota Bene]

Guys,

I believe it is only open a couple of hours a day. Better check when you are in Moscow.

Alexei

[Dave]

I just did a quick search online and gathered that it was open two days a week, which appear to be Tuesdays and Thursdays. However, the tomb is regularly closed for 'maintenance' even during the normal open days, so do check when you get there...

--Dave

[Esteban_cool]

You better do it quick. As I saw on a TV documentary about Russia, some capitalist bureaucrats at the Kremlin are pushing the iniciative to get rid of him. A several quantity of unthankful citizens of Moscow also want it and it is not so hard to do it...
The first thing made was to close the mausoleum, taking out the KGB guard at the door. this is so sad....

And besides, where did they put Stalin´s body once and for all?

Esteban

[Christophe]

In October 1961, decision has been taken to physically remove Stalin from its place of honor (5 years after the 1956 Congress...)

Khrushchev decided a decree ordering the removal of Stalin's remains.

A few days later, Stalin's body was quietly removed from the mausoleum. There were no ceremonies and no fanfare. About 300 feet from the mausoleum, Stalin's body was buried near other minor leaders of the Revolution. Stalin's body was placed near the Kremlin wall, half-hidden by trees.

A few weeks later, a simple dark granite stone marked the grave with the very simple, "J. V. STALIN 1879-1953." In 1970, a small bust was added to the grave.

It should still be there...

Another more recent pic...

And a good site to visit on this subject (the older photo is coming from there...) :

www.stalin.narod.ru
www.stalin.narod.ru

Ch.

[kabanchik]

I was at Red Square on April 22, just week before last, and the Mausoleum was closed because of the expected Communist admirers, who show up every year on that date. The demonstration was smaller than in years past. There was an actor there who resemnbled the great man, dressed up EXACTLY like Lenin, and was posing for tourists, for a fee. While I was there, the Militia showed up and shooed him away.
The mausoleum is open Monday through Thurday, as well as Saturday, from 9AM-1PM, as I recall from the sign posted outside. And, while you are there, take a stroll out behind the tomb, and check out the names of the buried there (Stalin, Zhukov, Gagarin, John Reed (remember the movie "Reds"??). I went into the mausoleum, later in the week, for about ten minutes, during which time I was alone with the old gentleman. I last saw him ten years ago, and spent over fifteen minutes inside, again alone the whole time. Quite an experience!! Strangely, I became violently ill later that day, after my first visit (my wife had warned me not to go, or I'd be sick. She said it must be something in the air there). But really, if you have the chance, GO!! You will be glad you did. To stand there and gaze down on the well-known face, and contemplate the life of a man who had, perhaps, as profound an impact on humanity as Jesus Christ, was one of the greatest experiences of my life.

[Esteban_cool]

Is there the grave of Sen Katayama between them, or is he hidden into the Kremlin walls?

Esteban

[sovvisor]

It was fantastic to see Lenin in his Mausolem. The man have stopped ageing. It was also quite exciting to stand by Stalin and Dzershinskijs tombs. I took pictures!! Don´t do that. It costed me 100 dollars in bribe to FSO guard not to arrest me. I will post pics as soon as they are developed. My most expensive photo ever!!
Best

[kabanchik]

Having just returned from Moscow last month, I must say, that if you are interested in Soviet History, and have a basic knowledge of the Cyrillic alphabet, as well as three or four hours to kill, one must visit the Novodevichiy Cemetery. My wife and I set out to visit the final resting place of her great-grandfather, Major-General Vasilii Grigoryevich Klementyev. She had not been there since she was a little girl in 1966, attending the general's funeral, yet we managed to quickly find the spot. After paying our respects, and laying flowers there, we rounded the corner, and found the BEAUTIFUL and touching grave and monument to Raisa Gorbachev. For the next three hours, we stolled among the markers and stones, locating one famous name after another, reading like a who's who of Soviet military, academic, cultural, scientific, and political personalities: Kozhedub, Pokryshkin, Koldunov (the very marshal whose uniform was recently offered on Ebay), Tupolev, Mikoyan, Guryevich, Myashchischev, Titov (the second man into space, after Gagarin), Alliluyeva (Stalins wife, whose marble monument bore so many scars of acts of descecration, that the whole edifice is shrouded in Lucite armor), as well as counless others of lesser-known names, like the designer of the T34 tank (whose grave bears a model of that famous fighting vehicle). One cannot walk twenty feet without five meters without seeing the name of persons many of us knew from the newsreels of the times. Khruschev's grave is there as well, bearing an uncannily friendly likeness of old Nikita Sergeyevich, smiling at the onlookers with eerie joviality. There are stars of Soviet film and stage, military men galore, victims of famous air disasters, as well as wives of leaders and dignitaries who are buried elsewhere. The monuments themselves are unlike anything we are familiar with here in the west, some extraordinarily breathtaking, touching, and SO beautiful!
I cannot emphasize this enough: If you have the wherewithal and the time, GO THERE!! You will find it a memorable experience, which you will NOT soon forget!