The tomb of the leader of the world proletariat has become an integral part of the architectural ensemble of Red Square. The embalmed body of Vladimir Ilyich Lenin is placed in a tomb faced with granite, marble, and porphyry, resembling a truncated three-step pyramid.
Lenin's first mausoleum was made of wood based on Shchusev's design, and it was built in haste for the leader's funeral. The current mausoleum building is already the third version, built after the Great Patriotic War.
During the war, Lenin's body was moved to Tyumen to protect it from attacks and destruction. In 1945, the leader was returned to the capital, and the mausoleum was renovated, with platforms added from which the country's leaders delivered many momentous speeches.
Lenin's Mausoleum has repeatedly been subjected to acts of vandalism and sabotage, and even the honor guard posted at the entrance to the tomb until 1993 did not protect it from this. Since 1973, Lenin's body has been kept in a bulletproof sarcophagus, and to enter the mausoleum itself visitors need to pass through a metal detector and leave all belongings at the entrance, including photographic equipment.
