Visiting Lenin (Mother Russia Part IV)

I’m afraid my next post has only two photos in it. There were no cameras and bags allowed in the mausoleum and so I’m afraid all I can do is describe my brief visit to the father of Russia and the most famous Russian Revolutionary - Lenin.

After queuing up for not more than 15 minutes on the outskirts of the Red Square, near Alexander Gardens, the policemen let us through in groups of 20. We walk beside the wall of the Kremlin, walk through metal detectors and after getting further patted down by the police we are finally allowed to enter the modern square structure.

Right as you enter, a soldier sternly gestures you to take your hands out of your pockets and to remove your hat, as a sign of respect. You turn the corner and see another soldier guarding nothing in particular, except the corner and when you turn that one, surprise another soldier. After that you enter the actual chamber and there he is, Comrade Lenin, lying in a thick glass case, eerily illuminated in a gold light. The rest of the chamber is dark, making his body look more like a hologram rather than an actual body.

Visitors are not allowed to loiter or at least I didn’t try. There were another three soldiers in the chamber so loitering did not seem like a good idea. The walk way goes around his body and the exit is on the other side where you have another soldier guarding the exit for some reason.

Once outside, I walked past more simple gravestones, unadorned by the tanks planes and missiles Pris and I saw in the Novodevichy cemetery. These gravestones marked the final resting places of the heroes of the Soviet Union. Of course the only one I recognized was Stalin but all were adorned with a few flowers. One afternoon I was walking past the mausoleum and noticed that some of the older folk were allowed to jump the queue, they were carrying flowers.