OK, so he’s had more than his fair share of work.
Still, at 145 years old, Vladimir Lenin has never looked better.
Russian embalmers, who have carefully cared for the revolutionary leader’s corpse since his death in 1924, have used experimental preservation techniques to help Lenin’s body improve with age, scientists said this week.
Lenin, who led the Bolshevik Revolution and became the first head of the Soviet Union, would have turned 145 on Wednesday.
A team of scientists and doctors from Moscow’s Center for Scientific Research and Teaching Methods in Biochemical Technologies oversees the preservation of Lenin’s body, which has remained on public display for 90 years, Scientific American reported. Officials closed the mausoleum earlier this year so the embalming squad could prepare his body for his 145th birthday.
The revolutionary embalming technique calls for the occasional replacement of skin and tissue with plastics and other artificial materials — an approach materially different from previous preservation methods, such as mummification, which focused on maintaining the original cells, experts said.
Lenin’s corpse is encased in a thin rubber suit that keeps a layer of embalming fluid over Lenin’s body when it’s on public display. The second skin is easily hidden by the body’s clothes.
The corpse is re-embalmed every other year, a process that takes Lenin’s body out of public view for about six weeks.
Lenin died on Jan. 21 1924, but the cause of his death has long been debated. An autopsy attributed the death to a massive stroke, but others suspected a case of syphilis killed the leader.
Originally, Soviet leaders didn’t want Lenin’s body to stay on public display forever, but they warmed up to the idea when they realized that Russia’s harsh winter kept his body well preserved during the temporary viewing as the nation mourned his death.
Hordes of tourists and Russian patriots alike visit Linin in his mausoleum every year.
