Far-Flung Postcards is a weekly series in which NPR's international team shares moments from their lives and work around the world.
The truth is, it's been years since I visited the mausoleum. But I'll never forget the first time. 30 years ago. As an exchange student. How my eyes struggled to adjust in the darkness. And then … there he was.
Vladimir Lenin. The Russian revolutionary and founder of the Soviet Union. And since his death in 1924, a wonder of chemistry, preserved in his crypt — under glass, asleep in his suit — barring the occasional removal for a re-embalming bath.
There were rules. No talking. No pictures. And no holding up the line. As I tried to take the silent scene in, a gruff guard signaled it was already time to move on.
In Soviet days, thousands lined up from all over the USSR to pay homage. That reverence gave way to indifference as the Soviet Union unraveled in the early 1990s. There were far more interesting — well, certainly more lively — things to see in the new Russia. There still are.
But news that the mausoleum is soon closing for repairs — until 2027 — has sparked a renewed surge of interest. The lines are back — less nostalgia for the Soviet Union, I suspect, than a last peek at a man frozen in time. Because who knows? There's been talk of burying Lenin for years.
And so here I am again. Now middle-aged. The sun beats down. The guard signals that it's our turn. A small group of us — soldiers, families, foreign tourists, me — make the long walk across Red Square toward the dark chamber. Lenin's Tomb. A place where the idea still exists that everything, and nothing, changes in our lives. At least for now.
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