Viet Nam - Ho Chi Minh - 1890 - 1969
1969 - Rare Badge - Commemorative / Memorial Badge
Very Rare Russian Issue - 1969 - Ho Chi Minh Memorial Badge
Measures - .8 inches in diameter (2 cms) - Perfect Unused Condition
Embalming of Ho Chi Minh
WhilstChairman Ho stated in his will “I require that my body be cremated,” underpressure from the Russian Politburo his body was embalmed and preserved.
When Vietnam’sbeloved leader passed away of heart failure in 1969, officials began planninghis preservation. They flew in a team of Russian scientists from the “LeninLab” who, as the nickname suggests, successfully preserved Lenin’s body afterhis death in 1924.
By the time HoChi Minh died the scientists had made significant strides in their experimentalembalming routine.
The Ho ChiMinh mausoleum was inaugurated in 1975 and was inspired by Lenin’s Mausoleum inRussia.
The columnedexterior is made of grey granite while the eerily cold inside is constructedfrom red, black, and grey polished stone.
The designersadded distinctive Vietnamese architectural styles, such as the sloping roof, todifferentiate it from the Russians’.
One distinctelement of each mausoleum is the same – and that is the preserved bodies oftheir respective leaders carefully looked after and centrally presented in adimly lit glass case.
