What's behind the display of embalmed world leaders? - CNN.com What's behind the display of embalmed world leaders? By Laura Smith-Spark, CNN Updated 10:31 PM ET, Fri March 8, 2013 Chat with us in Facebook Messenger. Find out what's happening in the world as it unfolds. Photos: The displayed bodies of world leaders The displayed bodies of world leaders – The body of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez will be displayed publicly "just like Lenin (and) Mao Zedong," the country's vice president said Thursday on state-run TV. Other world leaders have been on display in their countries, as well. Hide Caption 1 of 9 Photos: The displayed bodies of world leaders The displayed bodies of world leaders – Photographed for the first time in 30 years, the embalmed body of Russian leader and Soviet Union founder Vladimir Ilyich Lenin is seen in 1991 in the Mausoleum.

Hide Caption 2 of 9 Photos: The displayed bodies of world leaders The displayed bodies of world leaders – While she never held a government office, Argentinian politician Eva Peron was largely responsible for the women's suffrage law and formed the Peronista Feminist Party in 1949. Her embalmed body remained on display for two years until it was stolen and secretly buried in Italy for 16 years. Her remains are now in the Duarte family crypt in Recoleta cemetery. Hide Caption 3 of 9 Photos: The displayed bodies of world leaders The displayed bodies of world leaders – The coffin of Soviet political leader Joseph Stalin, who died in 1953, is carried from the House of Trade Unions in Moscow. Hide Caption 4 of 9 Photos: The displayed bodies of world leaders The displayed bodies of world leaders – Vietnamese students line up to view the embalmed body of former president Ho Chi Minh at a mausoleum dedicated to him in Hanoi, Vietnam, in 1983.

Hide Caption 5 of 9 Photos: The displayed bodies of world leaders The displayed bodies of world leaders – Chinese pass by Mao Zedong's body exhibited to the public on a catafalque. Hide Caption 6 of 9 Photos: The displayed bodies of world leaders The displayed bodies of world leaders – A glass enclosure holds the body of the late Philippines President Ferdinand Marcos in 2005 in Batac, Ilocos norte, Philippines. The late president's widow Imelda Marcos ordered the body of her husband preserved and put on exhibit in a mausoleum. Hide Caption 7 of 9 Photos: The displayed bodies of world leaders The displayed bodies of world leaders – Kumsusan Mausoleum is where the embalmed body of Kim Il Sung is kept and shown to the visitors. Hide Caption 8 of 9 Photos: The displayed bodies of world leaders The displayed bodies of world leaders – The body of late North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il lies in state at the Kumsusan Memorial Palace.

Hide Caption Story highlights Hugo Chavez's embalmed body is to be placed on display in a glass casket This follows in a tradition that includes Lenin, Mao Zedong and North Korea's Kim Il Sung Lenin historian: "It's like being in a wax museum -- the magic has long since gone" "It's the last thing you can ever do for anybody," says a UK embalmer of his trade The body of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez will rest in a glass case on public display. Forever. At least, so said his deputy, Nicolas Maduro. While the idea may seem alien to some, Chavez will be the latest in a line of leaders whose remains have been embalmed and put on show in a glass casket. Perhaps the best known is Russia's Vladimir Lenin, whose body still lies in a mausoleum in Moscow's Red Square, nearly 90 years after his death. Others include Stalin, China's Mao Zedong, Vietnam's Ho Chi Minh, and North Korea's founding leader, Kim Il Sung. U.S.

President Abraham Lincoln was also embalmed following his assassination in 1865, enabling his body to be taken on its winding, three-week train journey back to Springfield, Illinois, with open-casket memorial services along the way. JUST WATCHED MUST WATCH World reacts to Chavez's death 02:35 For Nina Tumarkin, author of "Lenin Lives! The Lenin Cult in Soviet Russia," the decision to embalm Lenin in 1924 -- the first modern leader to have his corpse preserved in this way -- was a reflection of a tumultuous period in early Soviet history. Chavez's impact lauded at funeral "Many people feared that the regime could not survive his death, so after the announcement was made, Moscow became something of an armed camp," said Tumarkin, a professor of Russian history at Wellesley College, Massachusetts. The leaders were unsure whether to hold a lying-in-state period, for fear that the people would not come, she said. As it turned out, some 750,000 braved the bitter January cold, standing in line for long hours to catch a glimpse of the corpse.

As a result, the leaders decided to make it a "going concern," she said, extending the period first to 40 days, the period in the Russian Orthodox tradition when Mass is said daily for the dead, and then installing his glass sarcophagus. They first placed it in a wooden mausoleum before building the stone one that stands today. Nine decades later and half a world away, crowds of Venezuelans similarly lined up to see Chavez's body as it lay in state at a military academy before the funeral Friday. So many came to see the body that the viewing was extended for another seven days. Giving details of his funeral, Maduro said Chavez would be embalmed "just like Lenin (and) Mao Zedong" and laid to rest at a military museum where generations of Venezuelans will be able to visit a man who for many was larger-than-life. Polarizing move In Lenin's case, the decision was -- and is still -- controversial. Even at the time of the communist leader's death, many Russians were outraged by the idea of embalming him, Tumarkin said. Many more today would like to see the body buried.

But the polarizing move came against the backdrop of the discovery 15 months earlier of the Egyptian pharaoh Tutankhamen's tomb. "It took the imagination of the world by storm," Tumarkin said, and it sowed the idea that the body of a leader could be preserved for thousands of years to come. It also tapped into a Russian Orthodox belief that the body of a true saint does not decay, she said. "Most important from a political point of view, the leaders who followed Lenin at the time, or who would be competing for the mantle of general secretary of the party, were men who were really terrified that the whole system was going to come falling down," she said. That fear had already prompted them to begin the process of "making Lenin eternal" through his writings and portraits. With his extended lying in state, the Russian people also had a kind of shrine to visit, Tumarkin said, again channeling the religious tradition. When Lenin's body was put on display, the embalmers compared their work to that of the ancient Egyptians -- who actually had used very different methods -- and the message sent out to the rest of the world was that this should be seen as a demonstration of superior Soviet science, she said.

At the same time, Lenin's symbolic presence lent the next generation of leaders an extra legitimacy, she said. And as the cult of Lenin swelled in the 1920s and 1930s, and was revived decades later, his body could still be viewed, Tumarkin noted. Other Communist leaders, such as Mao, followed his lead in later decades. Civil War practice In some countries, for example the Philippines and the United States, embalming ahead of open-casket funerals is now quite common. But the process is still regarded with suspicion or revulsion by many, perhaps linked to a wider discomfort with the idea of death. According to the American Society of Embalmers, modern-day embalming took off in the United States during the Civil War, when families would travel to the battlefields to find their dead sons or brothers. "The Union Army had 'Embalming Surgeons' in the battlefield that would prepare the remains, place them in a coffin and send back to the family by train or horse and buggy," the society's website says. So what's involved in the embalming process today?

First, the body fluids must be drained and replaced with a formaldehyde-based product, said Richard Arnold, managing director of the Embalmer Training School in Britain and a qualified embalmer for 20 years. The formaldehyde-based fluid plasticizes the proteins within the body and fights against the bacteria that otherwise would lead to its decomposition, he said. In cases where the body is expected to remain embalmed for a long period -- rather than for a few weeks or months, as can happen if a funeral is delayed -- the concentration of formaldehyde will be increased. Other chemicals, such as lanolin, can be added to the mix to improve the color and texture of the skin, help break down blood clots or lessen discoloration. Then comes the process of making the deceased look as realistic and, for the sake of the family, as peaceful as possible, Arnold said. "We do everything from reconstructive surgery to cosmetics and hairdressing." The cosmetics used in embalming have higher levels of pigment and silicone, he explained, so that when the body is moved in and out of cold storage the cosmetics will expand and contract with the tissue beneath without cracking.

Each embalmer works with individual artistry, he said, with many around the world creating their own mixes of chemicals to achieve the best results in local conditions. This could be important in Venezuela, where the weather is tropical and power supplies sometimes erratic. And if a body is going to be displayed for a long time, it's crucial to get it right. The body of Klement Gottwald, president of then-Czechoslovakia, was embalmed and placed in a mausoleum for display by Communist Party leaders in 1953. But it was taken off display several years later, in part because, it is said, it had begun to decompose. World leaders aside, Arnold believes embalming is an overlooked and undervalued art that helps regular people if someone dies far from home or must be laid to rest after a delay. Particularly for families who've lost a relative in sudden or tragic circumstances, it's important to see the loved one looking their best at the last, he adds. "I've always enjoyed the job," he said.

"It's the last thing you can ever do for anybody." 'Magic has gone' But even with the best of skill, an embalmed body will eventually start to look more waxy or plasticky -- as has been remarked of Lenin's face during his long repose. It reportedly is under a high-maintenance regime that involves the frequent reapplication of embalming fluids. Despite this, Lenin is no longer looking as good as he used to, said Tumarkin, who has viewed him several times over the decades in the gloom of his 1920s-style mausoleum, decorated in red, black and white. It used to make an impression in the Soviet period, when the long lines of visitors leading up to the sarcophagus created a sense of reverence akin to that of a pilgrimage, she said. But on more recent visits, Tumarkin found much has changed. "You don't have that any more. You don't have the lines (of people) any more. You just wander in and it's like being in a wax museum -- the magic has long since gone." It's perhaps a word of warning that Venezuela's leaders should heed as they plan for eternity.

A Guide to Communist Mummies | Mental Floss A Guide to Communist Mummies Image credit: Like us on Facebook You've probably seen pictures of Lenin's embalmed body, which has been on display in Red Square since his death in 1924 (except for a brief Weekend at Bernie's-esque trip to Siberia for safe-keeping during World War II). But he's not the only long-dead world leader whose body has become a tourist attraction. Atlas Obscura has rounded up a helpful Guide to Communist Mummies . Summer vacation tour, perhaps? May 26, 2011 - 12:11pm Consumer Reports Lenin looks better than the day he died, his embalmer brags | (KRT) MOSCOW  Vladimir Lenin has been dead these 80 years, but the founder of Soviet communism has never looked better. Just ask his curator. "He looks quite fine, as good as he did 30 years ago," said Yuri Denisov-Nikolsky, the Russian doctor who just supervised an extensive makeover of Lenin's corpse.

"He looked terrible when he died, but what you see now is Lenin's face, not someone else's." Denisov-Nikolsky has been working on Lenin since 1970, and in a rare interview he pulled back the shroud of secrecy surrounding the body, its original embalming and its periodic makeovers. When Lenin died of a stroke and heart attack on Jan. 21, 1924, his widow said he'd wished to be buried next to his mother in a simple cemetery plot. But the communist elite had other ideas. They originally planned to freeze their beloved leader, but his body began to deteriorate badly as a super-freezer was being built. Instead, using an untested chemical process, Lenin was embalmed and his skin carefully treated to preserve a lifelike appearance. He's entombed in a granite-and-marble mausoleum in Red Square. The body is sealed in a glass sarcophagus, cooled to 61 degrees, with the humidity between 80 and 90 percent. Some say Lenin appears to be sleeping. Others compare him to waxed fruit.

With the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991, the Russian government stopped financing the preservation of the body, Denisov-Nikolsky said. Private donations pay the meager salaries of his 15-person staff at a research lab called Medical Biological Technologies. The physicians and professors on the team, he said, earn $200 a month. The mausoleum staff also visits Vietnam to check on the body of Ho Chi Minh, on display in Hanoi. Denisov-Nikolsky was on the Soviet team that secretly embalmed "Uncle Ho" in a North Vietnamese jungle cave in 1970. Denisov-Nikolsky, 71, said he'd never talked or sung to Lenin's corpse when he'd been alone with it in the mausoleum, and he sees nothing odd or macabre about his work. But he does remember that his hands trembled when he first began working on the body. "Not every expert is allowed to restore such treasured historical objects, like a Raphael or a Rembrandt. Those who do it, we tremble.

I feel a great responsibility in my hands." About 1.5 million tourists visited the mausoleum last year, despite the fact that hours are limited and it's not always easy to find the entrance. Red Square is often closed for security reasons: There can be no more tempting target for a suicide bomber in Russia than Lenin's tomb and its body-under-glass - the Russian equivalent of the Statue of Liberty or the Washington Monument. Mausoleum security was improved this winter, Denisov-Nikolsky said, but the mausoleum and sarcophagus were never built to be bombproof. (During World War II, fearing a direct hit by the Nazis, Soviet authorities secretly shipped Lenin - code-named "Object No. 1" - to a warehouse in central Russia. They put him back on display in March 1945.) Specially filtered lighting gives Lenin's face a warm glow. Botox, collagen and modern cosmetics aren't used, Denisov-Nikolsky said, with a polite harrumph. A mild bleach is employed to combat occasional fungus stains or mold spots on Lenin's face. The skin is examined closely each week, using precision, Russian-made instruments that measure its moisture, color and contour.

Dehydration - and time - are the principal enemies. Lenin gets an extreme makeover every 18 months or so. The mausoleum is closed for two months and the body is immersed in a bath of glycerol and potassium acetate for 30 days. The skin slowly absorbs the solution, regaining its moisture and pliancy. With current techniques, the body could last "many decades, even for 100 years," said Ilya Zbarsky, 90, a doctor who worked on the body from 1934 to 1952. His father, Boris, participated in the original embalming in 1924. Lenin's blood, bodily fluids and internal organs were removed as part of the initial embalming. His eyebrows, moustache and goatee are his original hair - no molting. And his genitals are intact. No one seems to know what's happened to Lenin's heart, but Soviet ideologists were sure that his brain was something special. They brought in a renowned German scientist to examine it for clues to the great man's genius, but nothing came of it. The brain is still kept at a Moscow institute.

"But it's not easy to see it," Zbarsky said. "It's mostly dissected." A poll last month by the Public Opinion Foundation in Moscow found that nearly 60 percent of Russians younger than 50 want Lenin to be removed and buried. "Only people over 50 more frequently reply that they're against Lenin's burial," said foundation President Alexander Olson. This age group views "suggestions that the body be removed as blasphemous." Others argue that an emerging democracy - even if it's a democracy in name only - shouldn't maintain monuments to a dictator responsible for decades of suffering and millions of deaths. "The body should be removed, yes, and it should cease to be an object of worship," Zbarsky said. "It should be buried or kept in a laboratory somewhere." Lenin himself never wanted any of this. "Do not put up buildings or monuments in his name," his widow, Nadezhda Krupskaya, said in the days after his death. But the communist propaganda machine already had begun turning out heroic posters, worshipful biographies and everything from massive statues to miniature busts. Boulevards, hospitals, schools, train stations, collective farms and the city of St.

Petersburg were renamed in Lenin's honor. Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin and Felix Dzerzhinsky, the head of the secret police, pushed for the preservation of Lenin's remains. Red Army soldiers quickly began building a wooden mausoleum, using dynamite to blast open the winter-hard earth in Red Square. A special commission decided that freezing would be the best method of preservation, so a massive freezer was ordered from Germany. But the appliance took months to build, and as winter turned to spring, Lenin's body began to deteriorate: His face and hands darkened, body wrinkles began to appear and his lips were cracking. The freezing method was abandoned in favor of embalming and an experimental method of chemical preservation. Bodies had been embalmed before, of course, but never with the idea of maintaining a lifelike appearance. A team led by Vladimir Vorobiov, an anatomy professor from Ukraine, did the work. "This was an unprecedented task," Zbarsky said. "It would have been dangerous to fail." But Vorobiov's experiment worked. A stolid new mausoleum was built along the Kremlin wall, and the mausoleum scientists received perks and privileges not available to most Soviet workers.

They had nice apartments, decent food, country cottages and well-equipped labs. At one point, however, the scientists became perplexed - and terrified. A mysterious black spot had appeared on Lenin's right cheek, a bloom of mold that resisted all known treatments. They didn't want to ponder what would happen to them if they couldn't fix the problem. "They might have even killed us," said Zbarsky, who eventually bleached away the mold himself. "The atmosphere of fear and terror was there for us scientists, just as it was for everyone in the society." Zbarsky and his father were arrested without warning in 1952, during Stalin's wave of terror, accused of being German spies. Boris Zbarsky was imprisoned and his son was placed under house arrest. When Stalin died soon after that, in 1953, he was embalmed by the Zbarskys' former assistants at the mausoleum. Stalin shared the Red Square mausoleum with Lenin for eight years, then he was officially discredited and was quietly taken away and buried under the Kremlin wall.

In the new mood of anti-Stalinism at that time, according to Ilya Zbarsky, Muscovites created a new saying: "Don't sleep in a mausoleum that doesn't belong to you." The first calls for Lenin to be removed from Red Square came 15 years ago. Communism was about to collapse and most reformers wanted Lenin buried along with Marxism-Leninism. President Boris Yeltsin, saying Red Square "must not resemble a cemetery," suggested a national referendum in 1997 on the disposition of the body. But this proposal, along with numerous other demands for Lenin's eviction, was met with outrage by the Communist Party. Last month, on the 80th anniversary of Lenin's death, Communist Party leader Gennady Zyuganov laid a wreath at the mausoleum and proclaimed, "The bright, clever cause of Lenin lives and thrives." Zyuganov and the communists were resoundingly beaten in parliamentary elections in December, and their defeat opened the way for another possible campaign to remove Lenin. But no new groundswell has emerged, and President Vladimir Putin, whose re-election seems assured March 14, has skirted the issue.

One of Putin's closest advisers, Parliament Speaker Boris Gryzlov, said, "The problem of the removal of Lenin's body should be solved in due time - probably in 2024, after the 100th anniversary of Lenin's death." Every weekday JewishWorldReview.com publishes what many in Washington and in the media consider "must reading." Sign up for the daily JWR update. It's free. Just click here. Comment by clicking here. Shocking images with Lenin’s body in his tomb mausoleum Shocking images with Lenin’s body in his tomb mausoleum Funny pictures Lenin’s body is a big controversy because Lenin’s tomb is in fact a mausoleum. Today we have some really shocking images with the body of the famous communist politician, the first leader of the Soviet Union and the creator of the Leninism, Vladimir Ilyich Lenin. These photos are shocking to me because I do not understand some things. As you know, after his death, Lenin body was embalmed and placed on permanent exhibition in the Lenin Mausoleum in Moscow. Lenin’s tomb looks really strange and his preserved body looks scary!

His followers wanted to do that because they wanted to revive him in the future(!!!???)…. I really don’t understand why they do not bury him now… Maybe because they make money from people coming to see his body at the Lenin Mausoleum in Moscow?… Anyway everything seems so strange to me… Here’s a photo with the entrance to Lenin’s Mausoleum in Moscow… You will see later Vladimir Lenin body. Here’s how you can see the weird Lenins body… I bet Stalin is angry now because Lenin looks so beautiful! And from here it begins the strange and shocking part to me… Lenin’s tomb is a place to avoid. I guess that from time to time, they have to take Lenins body , undress it and wash it water or maybe some special solution to preserve it well… As you can see, the Lenin’s naked body… The people which are doing this are not wearing gloves or something like that… Maybe it would be an insult to Lenin… His dead body could have some strange diseases… Disgusting corpse of Lenin anyway… To me, these are really shocking pictures with the dead body of Lenin… Lenin’s embalmed body looks really strange… Have you ever seen such a tomb?

Kei says: May 13th, 2008 at 1:00 pm Lenin’s body is removed every few years to be treated to stop it decaying further. And believe me you would look a bit strange if you died in 1924 Imogen says: June 30th, 2008 at 6:12 pm Burying Lenin’s body will be an excuse to bury the spirit of communism and worker’s revolution altogether. Despite the Russian Revolution degenerating into an undemocratic state capitalist regime after Stalin took over, Lenin’s body represents the spirit of communism in Russia, and the rest of the world. He should not be buried until communism has been achieved! Only then can he truly be ‘laid to rest’. Melissa in NorCal says: January 21st, 2011 at 3:37 pm Ah the beautiful spirit of Communism. How could millions of dead, innocent, murder victims by a political regime be wrong? says: March 3rd, 2011 at 12:53 am U are right. A global campaign to preserve Lenin body is needed.

says: March 8th, 2011 at 11:02 am Those ware very wise words my friend… so true says: May 13th, 2011 at 11:11 am wow u people need to get a life!!! FAGS!! says: July 13th, 2008 at 11:40 am this is really a violation of the human death and of his dignity! says: October 9th, 2010 at 3:04 pm Its really not the worst thing stalin ever did. says: July 13th, 2011 at 12:39 am olamba mara ao linin khom lambawa.ok says: May 21st, 2011 at 10:16 pm Does a murderer of millions and a destroyer of people’s hopes and dreams deserve dignity? says: June 26th, 2011 at 12:25 pm You’re trying to say he deserves to be treated like this? I think Lenin idea’s were rather noble.

He just went to far in achieving his goals but had in mind a greater good. I’m not at all saying that what he did was good but I think everyone deserves a place where they can rest at last. Munchegod says: September 24th, 2012 at 11:25 am Actually Lenin was not that bad compared to leaders past and future, he reorganised through the chaos after the Tsarist regime collapsed, 5 million died in the revolution millions and millions died during the entirety of the Tsarist regime and Stalin killed around 20 million from taking power to the start of Russia’s part in World War 2 so comparably Lenin was a great leader, he also introduced the NEP. He was a great leader with a noble idea he believed in and loved, he didn’t want Stalin to come to power he just wanted Russia to be happy. Amelia says: August 6th, 2008 at 5:44 am Wow, i saw one of the pics on another site of him in the vat and i wondered if it was a fake. but i guess after seeing more than one i guess they are real pics.

i don’t see his being on display as a violation, but i think with the pictures of him dead and naked (even if u can’t see his…well u know) put on the internet is a violation :(. i know eva peron’s husband wanted to do something like this for her, but her body got taken away before the preservation process was finished or something like that. The Moon says: September 30th, 2010 at 6:22 am I do not believe that the pic of Lenin body shown in the above are true. This is because: 1. Nobody allows to take pic of Lenin body to show like this, or the embalmers will be taken into jail. 2. The fingers of Lenin body are closed on display at the Mausoleum 3. The face, beard and moustache of Lenin is not look like as on the display, i.e,it is grey, but black on the display… says: May 10th, 2011 at 3:56 pm A SMART OPINION. I’m wondering the same thing.

Will says: August 29th, 2008 at 11:55 pm this is very shocking, not that Lenin is preserved and still there, not that Lenin is being treated, but that people would put naked pictures of a very important man, and his voice and body are still important today. Why would u want Lenins body buried? it is very respecful to let his folowers see his body. and not just ground. Im just saying that i am not shocked at all abut the scientist working and cleaning Lenin’s body. Signed, says: December 24th, 2008 at 6:20 pm Who is the guy you have naked pix of? Cause it’s not Lenin, but it is someone who’se body is being preserved..

hansen says: January 4th, 2009 at 1:54 am there are two other similar bodies being preserved in the bottom of lenins tomb in the lab area so that they can try new methods of preservation in hopes to keep lenin from decaying as long as possible- as for wondering why they have him there ‘imogen’ s answer is on the right path… hbrt says: January 9th, 2009 at 2:25 pm freak picter you shoud not show that mabey that guy did not want you to do that even thow he is dead Kirov says: January 14th, 2009 at 8:58 pm It Is Such A Shame That There Would Be A Fake On The Internet. The Same Family Has Been Taking Care Of Lenins Body Since He Died. Do You Really Think That They Would Allow Pictures Of The Naked Body Of Russias First Succesfull Revoulutionary, The Creater Of The First Socialist State Known To Man? You Arent Even Allowed To Photograph Him In His Mausoleum, Then How Would Anybody Try To Get These.

What A Shame, Socialist, Capitalist, Democratic, Or Stateist. You Have To Show The Man Respect. J says: March 8th, 2009 at 5:48 pm I promise…..he won’t care that he was naked…Besides, his genitile area was covered…what do you want…do put his clothes in the flamaldrahyde??I would think NOT!!! lool says: August 12th, 2009 at 10:01 am je sais pas vous mais moi ca me donne faim !! je connais un resto sympa ou ils servent un delicious foie de volaille quasi cru …..je pense serieusement que nous devrions faire de meme avec sarkozy le petit pere du peuple francais says: November 9th, 2009 at 4:41 am Here’s the whole article that explains the process. For those of you who think that its not Lenin, I ask you this: Doesn’t he look quite a bit younger than he should when he’s on display? He looks 100 times better after his death than he did on the actual day of.

The doctors and staff that tend to his body are truly masters of their art. TheGasMaskGuy says: January 1st, 2010 at 6:20 pm Are you guys retarded? Obviously those are real… Wonder why he has hair? It’s all part of the “make-up” process. Lighting is used to make him look more lifelike. Make up is applyed to skin. Hair is applied to head. Why do you think HE HAS FACIAL HAIR IN THE PHOTOS OF HIM ON DISPLAY. Wow you guys and girls are retarded. says: March 28th, 2010 at 10:39 am Bury that shit Koshmar says: April 2nd, 2010 at 6:52 am Kobra, you are the shit. People like you are why we have global problems of people being exploited by a handful of tycoons. Everyone is born equal, everybody dies equal. The equality is what happens in between.

Long live Lenin, long live Leninism-Marxism, long live the Dictatorship of the Proletariat Marketa from CZ says: June 1st, 2010 at 6:45 am Hey! I don’t believe it’s really Lenin’s mummy. If I take a look at his right hand in the sarcophagus, it’s pent in the fist. When I look at the picture from laboratory, his naked body has the hands open. I’m not sure, just think, that the body is not very flexible and it would be a big problem to bend the grimmed fingers and then match them back into the flat position. Another thing is that the forehead of the mummy on the picture from the lab is much less rotundated than the Lenin’s was. And! the mummy has a lot of veins by the temple of the head. Lenin doesn’t. And! The mummy has a longer moustache. Lenin has quite shorter. And! The shape of ears of the mummy is absolutely different than the Lenins! And! The shape of the Lenin’s mandible is a bit knobly while the mummy’s mandible has the opposite shape!!!

And I see more and more differences. Let nobody tell me these pictures from laboratory are taken of the real Lenin’s body…. Dogo says: July 15th, 2010 at 11:47 pm The pictures are fake, the original picture of Lenin shows a closed right and a open left hand. And dont forget Leninn was bald. Look any pre 1927 pictures Mike says: August 7th, 2010 at 11:28 pm I wonder if they ever take the body out for a night on the town. Ooooh! Or, better yet, how about for a weekend at Bernie’s! Or, would that be a Weekend At Vlad’s? Thank goodness for Photoshop. Heh heh heh… paul says: September 13th, 2010 at 12:12 am Hair and finger nails do not stop growing after death, as they come from dead cells to begin with….that could explain the hair. Brian says: September 28th, 2010 at 12:54 am I think I’m gonna barf a little.

I don’t know if that’s the same Lenin in both pictures but it definitely looks like a real corpse. Just think, that could be you or I someday! Amber says: October 22nd, 2010 at 12:16 pm People, people. Just open your eyes. These are obviously NOT the same body. Yes it is true the hair and nails continue to grow after death…for a few hours. NOT enough to grow a full head of hair and a longer moustache!! These scientists do continue to try to perfect the mummification process. THAT explains the TWO different bodies. YES the makeup and lighting make a HUGE difference in how the body looks after returning the clothing. That’s the point. DUH!! As to the hands being different, that’s so obvious Stevie Wonder could see clearly they are two different corpses.!!!!! “Stalin’s” are positioned totaly differently from this corpse’s. Just look at the ‘shirt’ they were supposedly taking off of ‘stalin’. It is IMPOSSIBLE to undress a corpse that has been mummfied by moving the arms and legs. The shirt being removed is a cape that has a top button or snap.

NOT a dress shirt.!!! God people can be so totally ignorant!!!!!!!!!!! Look at the legs of this ‘corpse’ the legs are waxy as they would be with plasticine mummification. BUT the face is not. What??? Did they mummify one part and not the rest??? This is an experiment, NOT STALIN!!! If you really want an educated opinion of this ‘corpse’ pictures that are purportred to be stalin’s body…as someone who knows his ass from his mouth, unlike most of you people, ask Gunther Van Hagen and see what he thinks of this ‘stalin’ mummy!!! JohnnyMack says: October 25th, 2010 at 12:23 pm Sorry to disappoint, but that’s NOT Lenin’s body. Look at his right hand in the before and after pictures. That, and the fact that if you really study the photos, it’s clearly a person who bears a passing resemblance. But it’s not him.

says: October 26th, 2010 at 6:21 am really it’s an opportunity to see lenin after decade of his death- PT RAVI KUMAR Stealth Hedgehog says: November 1st, 2010 at 6:45 pm It’s not water, his body is ‘washed’ in a formaldehyde solution every so often in an attempt to further slow the decaying process. A process which can never be totally halted, so over time the body continues to decay, which is of course why he looks ‘strange’. The only reason the body looks ‘lifelike’ when in its mausoleum is that the body is covered in wax and makeup to hide the discolouration of the decaying and embalming processes. A great many bodies embalmed in the western world also have makeup applied after embalming to make the deceased appear as they did in life, mostly for the benefit of the relatives who usually want to see their lost loved one before they are interred or cremated. If left untreated the body of Lenin would eventually shrivel away to resemble those of the mummified ancient Egyptians.

Stealth Hedgehog says: November 1st, 2010 at 6:51 pm Oh, and the hair and nails do not technically ‘grow’ after death – the body begins to dehydrate and shrivel, and the skin becomes thinner etc, making the hair and nails appear to grow but in fact they are just exposed more than they were in life due to receding of skin. Ask a doctor, or better still, an undertaker! As for whether it’s Lenin’s body or not, who knows. After all, the former Soviet governments were masters of propaganda… Memphispiano says: November 2nd, 2010 at 9:39 am I was just in Russia last week and saw Lenin’s body. There are a few things I’d like to throw out. First, it should stay there because it is an incredible tourist attraction. Whether you love or hate him, it is really amazing to actually see him rather than visit a monument or something. I wish we could ‘see’ Lincoln and Washington, etc. Secondly, I do not believe these pictures are actually Lenin. As the crowds were low, we were able to be there a considerable amount of time.

You could not hide the amount of hair that is on the corpse in the picture. Plus the forehead of Lenin is very prominent and that is not the forehead on the corpse in the vat. I do believe this is the process they use; they just showed another body they ‘practice’ on and probably have been working with for a similar amount of years. The body as a whole probably looks almost identical to Lenin as we have known for many years that they took out the internal organs to add in preservation, etc. JTR 1888 says: November 2nd, 2010 at 5:51 pm I do not believe for a second that this is the body of Lenin. First, I work in the video industry and can tell when the pics are video stills. These ARE video stills. Why would somebody video tape Lenin’s cleaning and risk it getting out across the web. Second, the most obvious is the fact that the corpse in the stills HAS HAIR. Lenin did not. Nice Try. Peter says: January 4th, 2011 at 4:40 pm Lenin was a murderer.

6-8 million Russians died because of Lenin, and he created the regime that murdered 50 million more. I say we bury Lenin next to Hitler. Koomar says: March 3rd, 2011 at 12:59 am Lenin killed nobody. In fact, he saved millions of human being from perishing at the hands of imperialist scoundrels. He created a regime that saved another millions from being murdered by Hitler. Then how can Lenin be buried next to Hitler? People who talk like this should be buried in Hitler’s grave itself. Munchegod says: September 24th, 2012 at 11:28 am no actually those 6-8 million were victims of a revolution, he also did his best to prevent Stalin coming to power and he was the largest threat within the Communist party. and the revolution was going to happen regardless of whether Lenin led it, he saved more lives than he took. Kkkate says: January 20th, 2011 at 3:18 am It is absolutely not Lenin!! 100% not!! Moreover many of us (I mean Russians) has a doubt about the Lenin’s corpse existence.

Frida says: January 23rd, 2011 at 1:14 pm So obviously NOT Lenin. He was bald and had red beard. Thats just an old, dead guy which they are probably embalming. BTW how many people have the Capitalism killed? Millions more than Stalin ever did. says: January 23rd, 2011 at 8:44 pm Maybe it the most interesting guy in the world…. from the Dos Equis commercials… he has hair. Maybe this is the practice Lenin…. and I agree with Peter….. Lenin was a mass murderer… not a “Great Man” as some have said here. Maybe a “Great Murderer”…. no doubt about that. Munchegod says: September 24th, 2012 at 11:33 am Lenin saved more lives than he took, the 5-6 million who died in the revolution were going to die whatever the revolution was on rails. The next time death occurred on asuch a scale was under Stalin’s rule that Lenin tried to prevent. In fact to some extent Lenin betrayed communism with the NEP to keep peace and avoid death.

He may or may not have been a great mn but he had a great idea, was peaceful and noble in his cause. says: January 24th, 2011 at 12:37 am Lenin’s “body” is probably a wax dummy to start with! Ever consider THAT, peeps????? Macan U Do says: January 25th, 2011 at 8:29 pm Lenin’s body should be cremated. Then his followers can snort his ashes – opiate of the proletariat. ThePaganTemple says: January 28th, 2011 at 1:42 pm I wonder why they have his dick covered up. According to what I have heard, he wasn’t much in the, let us say, the manliness department, and this dick covering pretty much verifies that. They obviously didn’t want Lenin’s enemies to see how, let us say lacking, he really was as a man, because that my friends would serve as a testament to what put him on that path, the path to power the only way he could achieve it.

Mee says: February 5th, 2011 at 7:58 pm This is clearly fake, with the pride they put into lenin alone (let alone the fact it doesn’t look like him) do you really think they’d allow pictures of his naked corpse to be taken? Thelms says: February 8th, 2011 at 7:35 am If people didnt know, people do grow hair when they die. Additionally the soluton they use to preserve the body might have changed his skin colour and hair….hardly think its a decoy Kenneth Wade Wilson says: February 12th, 2011 at 3:49 am YOU IDIOTS! THE PICTURES ARE FAKE! THE REAL LENIN CORPSE IS CLEAN SHAVEN BUT FOR A GOATEE. THE CORPSE IN THESE PICTURES HAS QUARTER INCH STUBBLE ALL OVER ITS FACE! JESUS H. CHRIST! Seas says: March 3rd, 2011 at 7:43 pm Who cares if this is real or not? The fact is that some idiots still worship the guy.

That’s the most disturbing part! How can you possibly be so dense and misinformed? Arthur says: April 2nd, 2011 at 10:17 am Seas, how can you even ask that? It’s like saying ‘why do people even worship God, no-ones ever seen him.’ People can worship who ever they want, and its not for you to judge. People like you always point out the negative things about him, what about the positives? I can name you atleast 10 negative things, atleast, ANY political leader has done, past or present, you have no idea of the situation Russia and Russian people were in at that time and you never will. You might THINK you will, but trust me you won’t. Tom says: April 24th, 2011 at 1:26 pm Lenin was a mass murderer whose brutal dictatorship gave rise to further brutal dictatorships, which indeed threatened for fifty years to destroy civilisation as we know it and in its place establish similar monstrosities. They nearly succeeded, and for half a century the people of Eastern Europe were slaves to a system that offered them nothing.

It’s time to burn that shameful corpse in the crematorium of a former gulag and in the mausoleum establish a memorial to the 120 million victims of Marxist philosophy in the 20th century. Over the doorway, where now the name “LENIN” is displayed, in letters five feet high write “NEVER AGAIN”. Don’t disgust people and make yourself look like an idiot by asking “what about the positives”, Arthur. Lesane says: April 21st, 2011 at 5:04 am Lenin was not buried, because of Stalin and his new power as a leader. Stalin hated him so much and after the death of Lenin he told the people to embalm him. So he didn´t fulfild the last wish of Lenin. Lenin never wanted to be embalmed (and in a mausoleum), he told this explicit. The russian government is thinking about a normal grave for Lenin, to fulfill his wish. says: June 14th, 2011 at 12:34 pm 1. Dig a big big big big 2. Bury Lenin forever.

Lenin himself wanted to be Buried… No civilized Nations keep dead people on display… Yes. to lenin picture is OK. just keep a picture of Lenin.. Bury the dead body. 3. Bury lenin.. Live the Future. Invent the Future. Discover the Future. Past/Future. live the future… Shawn Giella says: June 14th, 2011 at 8:36 pm Once a year they give him what they call a “chemical bath” These pictures are during that procedure.He looks better on display bc of a wax type sealant used on his face to help prevent decay in between baths.The sealant gives his face a smooth and life like texture look.When it comes to the position of his hands,rigor mortis is gone within 3-4 days after death.They could pose him doing a hand stand if they wanted too.These pics are genuine but I bet whoever took them got in some serious trouble. Elena says: July 2nd, 2011 at 4:01 am This is not Lenin. These photos are from a TV program about Lenin’s mausoleum in Moscow.

The body is of an unknown old man found at the railway station in 1949. The process of preserving this old man’s body is shown as an illustration of what is done with the Lenin’s body every year. They would never show the real body on TV. So you can safely delete your comments below the pictures. It is not Lenin! says: June 7th, 2012 at 10:36 am That body has hair on its head, lenin is bald! Mark Donahue says: July 11th, 2012 at 3:22 pm Great topic, but as has been stated, that’s not Lenin’s naked body. I’ve read that it’s a “practice” body that’s been preserved since 1949, for trying out new substances/techniques. LexiconServices says: September 17th, 2012 at 9:13 am My first thought that it was possible Stalin whose body was being “refreshed,” but that didn’t quite match, either. The corpse on display is balding, as was Lenin.

The corpse in the multiple pictures has hair, but not ENOUGH hair (or mustache) to be Stalin — who at least used to be on display along with Lenin. The notion of a “practice” body makes the most sense. Ghoulish or not, viewing the body of Lenin is a chance to get close to history. I would love to be as close to other historical characters — and, in fact, have stood at the graves of people from Henry V (“Prince Hal” of Agincourt fame) to Winston Churchill and Abraham Lincoln, conscious of the fact that this is as close as I can get to meeting people whom I find fascinating. Lenin was an evil man. Marxism and Communism and almost all forms of Socialism are intrinsically evil — but that doesn’t make them less important, give them less impact on history, or prevent their being fascinating.

Dead World Leaders On Display (PHOTOS) | The Huffington Post Dead World Leaders On Display (PHOTOS) 03/08/2013 02:32 pm ET | Updated Mar 08, 2013 110 Carlo Davis Thousands of Venezuelans spent hours waiting in line on Thursday to pay their respects to Hugo Chavez. According to the Associated Press, the line to see the late president in his glass casket stretched 1 1/2 miles outside Caracas' military academy. However, there doesn't need to be a rush. Chavez supporters will have ample time to see the coffin, as Venezuela's Vice President Nicolas Maduro announced on Thursday that Chavez will be preserved and placed on display permanently at the Museum of the Revolution in Caracas. Chavez will join a long tradition of leaders whose bodies have met a similar fate.

Powerful men have been honored with monuments since before the pyramids of ancient Egypt, but permanent displays of embalmed leaders in life-like form only began in 1924 when the Soviet Union placed Vladimir Lenin in a mausoleum in Moscow's Red Square , where, according to the AP, he has remained continuously, except for a period of hiding during World War II. A team of fifteen scientists works full-time to keep Lenin's body looking hale and saintly, which includes placing it in a month-long "bath of glycerol and potassium acetate" every 18 months. Joseph Stalin, too, was displayed at Lenin's Mausoleum after his death, until the mausoleum was de-Stalinized along with the rest of Russia in 1961. The bodies of Kim Jong-il and his father Kim Il-sung share the spotlight at the massive Kumsusan Memorial Palace in Pyongyang, North Korea, according to The New York Times. Even in Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh remains on permanent display, checked up on intermittently by the same team that monitors Lenin .

Chavez may have championed " socialism for the 21st century ," according to the BBC, but in death, he looks startlingly similar to the great socialist leaders of the 20th century. Take a look at Chavez's predecessors in the slideshow below. Dead Leaders On Display Top 10 Famous Mummified Bodies - Listverse Top 10 Famous Mummified Bodies December 24, 2009 [Congratulations! This is the second prize winning entry in our 2009 Christmas Competition.] [WARNING: This article contains graphic photographs of mummified bodies.]A mummy is a corpse whose body has been preserved by either intentional or incidental exposure to chemicals, extreme cold, very low humidity, or lack of air. Mummies of humans and animals have been found throughout the world – both as a result of having been embalmed and because of natural preservation through unusual conditions. Many mummies are thousands of years old and are famous because of the intriguing circumstances of the death or the remarkable preservation of the body. The following are ten of the most fascinating mummies, (mainly because of the story behind them or the incredible preservation of the body) most of which are still viewable today.

10 Elmer McCurdy Elmer McCurdy (January 1880 – October 7th 1911) was an outlaw killed in a gunfight in the Osage Hills in Oklahoma. A newspaper account gave Elmer’s last words as “You’ll never take me alive!” His body was taken to a funeral home in Oklahoma. When no one claimed the corpse, the undertaker embalmed it with an arsenic-based preservative and allowed people to see “The Bandit Who Wouldn’t Give Up” for a nickel, placed in Elmer’s mouth, which the undertaker would collect later. Five years later, a man showed up from a nearby traveling carnival claiming to be Elmer’s long-lost brother wanting to give the corpse a proper burial. Within two weeks, however, Elmer was a featured exhibit with the carnival. For the next 60 years, Elmer’s body was sold to wax museums, carnivals, and haunted houses. The owner of a haunted house near Mount Rushmore refused to purchase him because he thought that Elmer’s body was actually a mannequin and not lifelike enough.

Eventually, the corpse wound up in “The Laff in the Dark” funhouse at the Long Beach Pike amusement park in California. During filming of the The Six Million Dollar Man shot in December 1976, a crew member was moving what was thought to be a wax mannequin that was hanging from a gallows. When the mannequin’s arm broke off, it was discovered that it was in fact the mummified remains of Elmer McCurdy, who was finally buried in the Boot Hill section of the Summit View Cemetery in Guthrie, Oklahoma on April 22nd 1977, with 2 cubic yards of concrete over his casket so his remains would never be disturbed again. Discover more macabre medical curiosities in the one-of-a-kind Mutter Museum Book of Historical Medical Photographs at Amazon.com! 9 Vladimir Lenin Vladimir Ilyich Lenin (10th April 1870 – 21st January 1924) was one of the leading political figures and revolutionary thinkers of the 20th century, who masterminded the Bolshevik take-over of power in Russia in 1917, and was the architect and first head of the USSR.

In 1918, he narrowly survived an assassination attempt, but was severely wounded. His long-term health was affected, and in May 1922 he suffered a stroke from which he never fully recovered. In December 1922, he suffered a second stroke that partly paralyzed his right side and caused him to withdraw from active politics. In March 1923, he suffered a third stroke that left him dumb and bed-ridden until he died on 21st of January 1924, aged 53, at his estate in Gorki Leninskiye. His body was embalmed and exhibited in the Lenin Mausoleum, Moscow where it can still be viewed today. 8 Saint Bernadette Saint Bernadette was born Maria-Bernada Sobirós (7th January 1844 – 16th April 1879) and was a miller’s daughter from the town of Lourdes in southern France. Despite her body not being technically mummified, she definitely deserves a place on this list.

From February 11th to July 16th 1858, she reported eighteen apparitions of “a small young lady.” Despite initial skepticism from the Catholic Church, these claims were eventually declared to be worthy of belief after a canonical investigation, and the apparition is known as ‘Our Lady of Lourdes’ – the Virgin Mary. After her death, Bernadette’s body remains incorrupt and can be viewed in the Chapel of Saint Bernadette in Nevers. On December 8th, 1933, she was canonized as a saint by the Catholic Church. 7 Juanita Juanita (“The Ice Maiden”) was discovered on the summit of Mount Ampato, Peru, on September 8th, 1995. She was 12–14 when sacrificed 500 years ago – a great honour for an Incan – they believed the Ampato God supplied water and withheld avalanches in return for human sacrifices. A young girl, boy and the skeleton of a woman were discovered in later expeditions, as were items left as offerings to the gods. The eruption of nearby volcano Mount.

Sabancaya melted 500 years of ice and snow encasing Juanita, who was almost entirely frozen – her skin, internal organs, hair, clothing, blood and even the contents of her stomach preserved, offering scientists a rare glimpse into the life of the Incas. Juanita was wearing clothing resembling the finest textiles from Cuzco and was the closest sacrifice to the Inca capital, suggesting she may have come from a noble Cuzco family. Juanita was chosen as the most beautiful and innocent and would be ‘guaranteed eternal life with the gods’. As the other bodies were further down the mountain, they were not as pure and worthy as Juanita. It took incredible effort (and whole entourages of priests, villagers, provisions, water, as well as symbolic items used in the ritual – all carried on the backs of hundreds of llamas and porters) to hold sacrificial rituals in the thin air and life-threatening cold of Mount Ampato – 20,000 feet high. Juanita was killed by a powerful blow to the head and was probably given chicha, a strong hallucinogenic drink before the ritual was performed.

In 1996, President Clinton saw a photo of Juanita and reportedly said, “If I were a single man, I might ask that mummy out. That’s a good-looking mummy!” Juanita is on display at the Museo Santuarios de Altura in Arequipa, Peru. 6 Ötzi the Iceman Ötzi the Iceman (also known as Similaun Man or Man from Hauslabjoch) is a well-preserved natural mummy of a man from about 3300 BC (53 centuries ago). The mummy was found in September 1991 in the Schnalstal glacier in the Ötztal Alps, near Hauslabjoch, on the border between Austria and Italy. The nickname comes from Ötztal, the region in which he was discovered. He is Europe’s oldest natural human mummy, and has offered an unprecedented view of Chalcolithic (Copper Age) Europeans. The cause of death was most likely a blow to the head. The body and his belongings are displayed in the South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology in Bolzano, northern Italy.

5 Ginger ‘Ginger’ is the nickname given to the naturally preserved body of an adult man (believed to be the earliest known ancient Egyptian “mummified” body), who despite having died more than 5,000 years ago, had perfectly preserved golden hair, and even toe and fingernails. Ginger was found in at Gebelein, Egypt, and dates to the Late Predynastic period, around 3400 BC, or earlier. Before mummification was developed, human remains were placed in shallow graves, in direct contact with the hot, dry sand, which absorbed the water that constitutes 75% of the human weight. Without moisture, bacteria cannot breed and cause decay, and the body is preserved. However, it is uncertain whether Ginger’s mummification was intentional or not, though since Ginger was buried with some pottery vessels it is likely that the mummification was a result of preservation techniques of those burying him. Ginger is currently on display in the British Museum. 4 Tollund Man Tollund Man is the naturally mummified corpse of a man (a ‘bog body’) who lived during the 4th century BC during the Pre-Roman Iron Age.

He was found in May 1950, buried in a peat bog on the Jutland Peninsula in Denmark, which preserved his body. The head and face were so well-preserved that at the time he was mistaken for a recent murder victim, however, he was later found to have died over 1,500 years ago. Autopsies have shown that the cause of death was hanging – the rope left visible furrows in the skin beneath his chin and at the sides of his neck, however, there was no mark at the back of the neck where the knot of the noose would have been located. The body is displayed at the Silkeborg Museum in Denmark, though only the head is original, and is attached to a replica of the body. Buy the original semi-classic film The Mummy at Amazon.com! 3 Rosalia Lombardo Rosalia Lombardo was an Italian child born in 1918 in Palermo, Sicily. She died on December 6th 1920 of pneumonia. Rosalia’s father was so sorely grieved upon her death that he approached Dr. Alfredo Salafia, a noted embalmer and taxidermist, to preserve her.

She was one of the last corpses to be admitted to the Capuchin catacombs of Palermo, Sicily and one of the most well-known. Her preservation is such that it appears as if she were only sleeping, hence receiving the nickname “Sleeping Beauty”. She is considered one of the world’s best-preserved bodies and it is hard to believe she died nearly 90 years ago. For many years, the formula that preserved her so magnificently was a mystery, but it has recently been discovered that she was injected with a mixture of formalin, zinc salts, alcohol, salicylic acid, and glycerin. Formalin, now widely used by embalmers, is a mixture of formaldehyde and water that kills bacteria. Dr. Salafia was one of the first to use this for embalming bodies. Alcohol, along with the arid conditions in the catacombs, would have dried Rosalia’s body and allowed it to mummify. Glycerin would have kept her body from drying out too much, and salicylic acid would have prevented the growth of fungi.

According to Melissa Williams, executive director of the American Society of Embalmers, it was the zinc salts that were most responsible for Rosalia’s amazing state of preservation. Zinc, which is no longer used by embalmers in the United States, petrified Rosalia’s body. “[Zinc] gave her rigidity. You could take her out of the casket, prop her up, and she would stand by herself.” 2 King Tutankhamun Tutankhamun (approximately 1341 BC – 1323 BC) was an Egyptian pharaoh of the 18th dynasty during the period of Egyptian history known as the New Kingdom. Tutankhamun was 9 years old when he became pharaoh and reigned for approximately 10 years, until his death. Tutankhamun’s tomb in the Valley of the Kings (where he still resides) was discovered by Howard Carter in 1922 almost completely intact — the most complete ancient Egyptian royal tomb ever found. Eternal life was the main focus of all Ancient Egyptians, which meant preserving the body forever. Egyptians mummified bodies because they believed in an afterlife.

Believing that the afterlife was much like life in this world they had to preserve their bodies so they would be able to use them after they die. Egyptian culture believed the body was home in the afterlife to a person’s Ka, Ba and Akh, without which it would be condemned to eternal wandering. The Ka was a less solid duplicate of the body. Without a physical body, the soul had no place to dwell and became restless forever. The Ba was able to leave the tomb and revisit the dead person’s haunts in the mortal world. The Akh was the immortal soul that emerged when the Ka and the Ba united after the deceased person passed judgement. The mummification process lasted for a period of 70 days, applied to all classes of Egyptians – rich or poor. The 70-day mummification process was as follows: 15 days spent on cleansing and purification, 40 day drying period and 15 days wrapping and bandaging. Tutankhamun has become one of the most famous Egyptian mummies, his death mask becoming one of the most iconic images of the world today. The cause of Tutankhamun’s death is unclear and is still the root of much speculation.

1 Lady Dai (Xin Zhui) In 1971 workers in China digging an air raid shelter near the city of Changsha uncovered an enormous Han Dynasty-era tomb containing over 1,000 well-preserved artefacts, as well as “the most perfectly preserved corpse ever found”. The tomb belonged to Xin Zhui, wife of the Marquis of Han who died between 178–145 BC, around 50 years of age. Her body is so well preserved that when found it was autopsied as if recently dead and her skin was supple, limbs could be manipulated; hair and internal organs were intact; remains of her last meal were found in her stomach and type A blood still ran red in her veins. Examinations have revealed that she suffered from parasites, lower back pain, clogged arteries, had a massively damaged heart (an indication of heart disease brought on by obesity, lack of exercise and an overly rich diet) and was overweight at the time of her death. The ‘mystery of Lady Dai’ has not yet been solved. Scientists believe contributing to her remarkable preservation was the 22 dresses of silk and hemp and 9 silk ribbons she was tightly wrapped in.

Clothes filled the coffin, which was perfectly sealed, keeping air out. There were inner and outer tombs, which were more than 50 feet below the earth as well as the four coffins she was buried in, each inside the other. However, some scientists suspect the real key to her preservation lies in the mysterious unidentified reddish liquid found in the coffin she was discovered in. To intensify the mystery, two other tombs containing bodies in a similar state of preservation have been found close to Lady Dai – Sui Xiaoyuan and Ling Huiping. Her 2,000-year-old body is currently housed in the Hunan Provincial Museum. Bonus Ancient Pompeiians One of the morbidly fascinating results of the 79 A.D. eruption of Vesuvius is the number of holes found in the volcanic deposits around Pompeii, representing the corpses of people and animals killed by the pyroclastic flow and buried by the hot ash. The ash solidified before the corpses decayed so a mould of Vesuvius’s victims remained.

Early in the excavation, Giuseppe Fiorelli discovered that filling these moulds with plaster resulted in highly accurate and eerie forms of the doomed who failed to escape, their last moment of life captured forever, the expression of terror often clearly visible. It is impossible to imagine the sheer terror these poor unfortunate souls must have gone through. This is a bonus because there is no single ‘famous’ mummified body, but an entire city frozen in time. The majority of plaster casts are situated around Pompeii and in the Archaeological Museum of Naples. GotSaga+most-amazing-mausoleums-and-catacombs-from-around-the-world MAUSOLEUMS Taj Mahal, in Agra, India The Taj Mahal is an immense mausoleum of white marble, built between 1631 and 1648 by order of the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan in memory of his favourite wife. Taj Mahal means Crown Palace; one of the wife's names was Mumtaz Mahal, Ornament of the Palace.

The Taj is one of the most well preserved and architecturally beautiful tombs in the world, one of the masterpieces of Indian Muslim architecture, and one of the great sites of the world's heritage. Lenin's Mausoleum - Moscow, Russia Also known as Lenin's Tomb, situated in Red Square in the center of Moscow, is the mausoleum that serves as the current resting place of Vladimir Lenin. His embalmed body has been on public display there since shortly after his death in 1924 (with rare exceptions in wartime). Aleksey Shchusev's diminutive but monumental granite structure incorporates some elements from ancient mausoleums, such as the Step Pyramid and the Tomb of Cyrus the Great. The Egyptian Pyramids in Egypt A group of ancient pyramid-shaped masonry structures located in Egypt. There are 138 pyramids discovered in Egypt as of 2008. Most were built as tombs for the country's Pharaohs and their consorts during the Old and Middle Kingdom periods. The most famous Egyptian pyramids are those found at Giza, on the outskirts of Cairo. Several of the Giza pyramids are counted among the largest structures ever built.

Mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor - Xian, China According to historian Sima Qian (145-90 BC), construction of this mausoleum began in 246 BC and involved 700,000 workers. Qin Shi Huang was 13 when construction began. He specifically stated that no two soldiers were to be made alike, which is most likely why he had construction started at that young age. Sima Qian, in his most famous work, Shiji, completed a century after the mausoleum completion, wrote that the First Emperor was buried with palaces, scenic towers, officials, valuable utensils and "wonderful objects," with 100 rivers fashioned in mercury and above this heavenly bodies below which he wrote were "the features of the earth." Some translations of this passage refer to "models" or "imitations," but he does not use those words. CATACOMBS Catacombs of Kom el Shoqafa in Alexandria, Egypt Considered one of the Seven Wonders of the Middle Ages.

The necropolis consists of a series of Alexandrian tombs, statues and archaeological objects of the Pharaonic funeral cult with Hellenistic and early Imperial Roman influences. Due to the time period, many of the features of the Catacombs of Kom el Shoqafa merge Roman, Greek and Egyptian cultural points; some statues are Egyptian in style, yet bear Roman clothes and hair style whilst other features share a similar style. A circular staircase, which was often used to transport deceased bodies down the middle of it, leads down into the tombs that were tunneled into the bedrock during the age of the Antonine emperors (2nd century AD). The facility was then used as a burial chamber from the 2nd century to the 4th century, before being rediscovered in 1900 when a donkey accidentally fell into the access shaft. The Catacombs of Paris - Paris, France Are a famous underground ossuary in Paris, France. Located south of the former city gate, the "Barrière d'Enfer", at today's Place Denfert-Rochereau ), the ossuary fills a renovated section of caverns and tunnels that are the remains of Paris' stone mines.

Opened in the late 18th century, the underground cemetery became a tourist attraction on a small scale from the early 19th century, and has been open to the public on a regular basis from 1867. The Catacombs of San Gennaro - Naples, Italy The Catacombs of San Gennaro are underground paleo-Christian burial sites in Naples, Italy and are the most important such sites in Italy south of Rome. They are situated in the northern part of the city, on the slope leading up to Capodimonte. The site is now easily identified by the large church of Madre del Buon Consiglio. Capuchin catacombs of Palermo, Italy Today they provide a somewhat macabre tourist attraction as well as an extraordinary historical record. Palermo's Capuchin monastery outgrew its original cemetery in the 16th century and monks began to excavate crypts below it. In 1599 they mummified one of their number, recently-dead brother Silvestro of Gubbio, and placed him into the catacombs. The bodies were dehydrated on the racks of ceramic pipes in the catacombs and sometimes later washed with vinegar.

Some of the bodies were embalmed and others enclosed in sealed glass cabinets. Monks were preserved with their everyday clothing and sometimes with ropes they had worn as a penance. Catacombs of Edinburgh, Scotland The Edinburgh Vaults or South Bridge Vaults are situated in tunnels built in the 18th century underneath one of the arches of the South Bridge in Edinburgh, Scotland, which was completed in 1788. For around 30 years, the vaults were used to house taverns, cobblers and other tradesmen, and as storage space for illicit material, reportedly including the bodies of people killed by serial killers Burke and Hare for medical experiments. Maltese Catacomb Complexes, Rabat, Malta Rabat is home to the famous Catacombs of St. Paul and of St. Agatha. These catacombs were used in Roman times to bury the dead as, according to Roman culture, it was unclean to bury the dead in the city (Mdina and parts of Rabat were built on top of an ancient Roman city). The Catacombs were also where early Christians secretly met and performed Mass until Constantine I made Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire and therefore stopped persecuting Christians.

The Catacombs are now looked after by Heritage Malta, the organisation which looks after most of the museums and temples in Malta. Part of St. Paul's Catacombs, the part accessible from the Parish church which is dedicated to the same Saint, was where, according to tradition and as recorded in the Bible, St. Paul stayed for three months when he was shipwrecked on the island in 60 A.D.

Question: Whose embalmed body has been viewed millions of times since his death in 1924?
Answer: V.I. Lenin