Bodies of Evidence

Case studies

Vladimir Lenin

Vladimir Ilyich Lenin, leader of the Russian Revolution, only wanted a simple burial, but it was not to be. After his death on 21 January 1924, so many mourners were delayed by the bitter winter weather that the Soviet leaders ordered that Lenin's body be embalmed temporarily so that the 'masses' could pay their respects.

Weeks later, the queues of mourners were as long as ever, and Joseph Stalin, Lenin's successor, set up a Committee for the Immortalisation of Lenin's Memory. For four months, biochemist Boris Zbarsky and anatomist Vladimir Vorobiov worked night and day to preserve the body so that it looked as it had done in life.

Ever since, Lenin's body has been checked twice a week for deterioration. Every 18 months it is taken to a laboratory beneath its mausoleum to be undressed, examined and immersed in preserving chemicals. Nowadays, Moscow's 'mausoleumists' earn most of their money by preserving the bodies of dead mafia bosses.

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The Romanovs

Vladimir Lenin

Taung Child

St Clare

The Inuit Women

Witch burial

Barber surgeon

Slave grave

Turin shroud

The disappeared

Medieval coffins