Red Square Facts

OK, here's the low-down on Lenin. I asked Svetlana if the body was really real. She said that it is indeed. Svetlana also said that she has never been to the tomb and has no desire to ever see it. I pick-up a little resentment in her about the whole Communism thing. Her formative years were under the Kremlin rule. Perostroika has been her life since. Svetlana has no political opinions~at least vocally. I have a feeling she, too, is concerned about what's going on in the Mid-East.
Back to Lenin...
Lenin died on January 21, 1924. 10,000 telegrams flooded the Kremlin requesting his body be preserved long enough to allow Russians to pay their last repects.
Lenin was embalmed and laid out in Red Square. Within one month over 100,000 Russians visited the tomb. It was later discoverved that Lenin's body could truly be preserved for a longer period of time. Believe it or not, the body requires daily care and humidity levels inside the tomb are monitored to keep the sarcofocus "fresh."
Although the body looks like a wax figure from Madame Tousseu's, it is real. On a regular basis, the body is removed from the tomb to be treated and re-dressed.
Little known fact: (that is in our part of the world) It is considered disrespectful to keep your hands in your pockets while visiting Lenin's Tomb. One must keep one's hands down along-side one's body when viewing Lenin.