"Open the buffet, and bury the mummy..." What to do with the Lenin Mausoleum

Passions about the Mausoleum began to boil in the country again. Let us recall that as Novye Izvestia has already reported, the Union of Russian Architects has announced a competition for the best concept of using the Lenin Mausoleum on Red Square, and in this step, according to the architects themselves, there is no political order.

“We do not propose to take out Lenin, we do not propose to demolish the Mausoleum, we only propose to find a solution to how this greatest work of Soviet architecture could be used in the future,” said the director of the union Nikolai Shumakov.

Social networks are actively commenting on this event. So the social psychologist Alexei Roshchin strongly doubts that the corpse of the leader of the world proletariat will be taken out of there in the foreseeable future:

“As for the Mausoleum, now, on the one hand, is actually an ideal time to get the mummy out of there and bury it at last - quickly and forever. Not a single bastard will even rock the boat! What kind of "popular unrest" are there ?! After the "zeroing vote", after the passes to leave the apartment, after the masked madness (and worldwide) - well, what kind of Lenin could it be? The entire population has long been put by cancer - from this position it is difficult to distinguish what is going on with the mausoleum (and, most importantly, not very interesting).

But alas - no. Of course, nothing like this will happen under Putin. "There are no miracles, and there is nothing to dream of." And it’s even, probably, good that it’s not. Still, throwing out a corpse from the central street of not just the city, but the whole country should be a conscious, ideological act. It is a sin not to use it as a symbol of some kind of purification of the country and people.

Stalin was thrown out in due time in a truly Bolshevik way - without prior notice. It seems after the 22nd Congress? The Soviet people woke up in the morning - up! And the Mausoleum had already been turned from a kopeck piece back into a one-room apartment: in the early morning, while they were still snoozing, they pulled out the still quite fresh corpse of the former Dzhugashvili (had been lying for less than 10 years) - and into the ground. "After a short civil funeral service, the body was buried."

It seems to be good - quickly, efficiently, in the Stalinist way. "No corpse, no problem." But in reality we have what we have - the Stalinist cult has not gone anywhere. Apparently, it must be carried out publicly, solemnly. The party that won the election. Which demand "to take out the corpse from the mausoleum" will be written into its election program - everything is honest, we promised - we will do it. Bold, second paragraph.

That is - hell knows when. The grandchildren maybe will see it..."

The writer Denis Dragunsky gave the architects an original idea:

“Let the mausoleum be the Museum of the Mausoleum.

Entrance with tickets. Excursions. An intelligible exposition of how it was all done.

How Lenin died, how this five-day all-Union pilgrimage was organized to say goodbye to him, how the decision was made about embalming, about the construction of the Mausoleum, what were the projects, how it was first oak, then granite...

How the mummy was embalmed and supported, how it was taken to Tyumen during the war, and taken back.

The history of the "guard of honor". Laboratory. How Lenin's costumes were changed. How Stalin joined him, how he was then sucked off. Premises inside. Buffet. Tunnel to the Kremlin for those who stood on the Mausoleum.

Exit to the podium. Show props, warm fans for November days.

Sell postcards, albums, serious books, souvenirs.

As for the "object" itself.

Of course, replace it with a wax doll.

And the real mummy:

Or quietly bury in St. Petersburg next to the grave of M.A. Ulyanova.

Or drag a horse along the streets and squares of Moscow on a rope, burn it and shoot with ashes from an aircraft cannon over a distant Siberian swamp - where no human has ever set foot or will.

But it really depends on the political decision of the leadership ... "

Film critic Anton Dolin goes even further along the path of desacralizing this place:

“Since we are talking about the possible reorganization of the Mausoleum, I will not be silent and tell you about my old idea.

Let me remind you in a few words the essence of the problem.

It is a pity to demolish the Mausoleum - a beautiful and unique architectural monument.

It is scary to endure and bury Lenin - something like blasphemy comes out, well, the communists will be indignant.

To arrange something else inside the Mausoleum is wrong - after all, it is a tomb.

But the organized long-term worship of the mummy of the leader, who killed millions of people and an entire country (at least in the opinion of many), looks more uncomfortable every year.

So,

1. The Mausoleum remains the Mausoleum with Lenin's mummy inside. This is out of the question.
2. The entrance must be opened not during special complicated hours, but every day from 10 to 18.
3. No guard of honor. Only one security guard on the frame and an unfriendly granny caretaker.
4. The entrance is paid (now it is free), 200 rubles. For privileged categories it is free.
5. (Most important) At the exit, attach a kiosk with souvenirs - postcards, notebooks and erasers.

Thus, the tradition and design of the architect are not violated, but unobtrusive desacralization and museization occurs, as with most ancient necropolises.

Spitting and talking loudly should, of course, be prohibited.

In my opinion, an effective plan. And low-budget..."

And journalist Kirill Shulika recalled the proposal of Valeria Novodvorskaya:

“As for the burial of Lenin, I support the following idea. Novodvorskaya once proposed to give the body of the leader to Zyuganov so that he would keep it under his bed. Well, the Mausoleum itself, of course, should become a museum of the crimes of communism. For example, just to show there photographs and the names of the victims of the 70-year rule, that is, repressed, tortured in psychiatric hospitals, etc. It will take a long time to start over, because there are very, very many victims..."

Philosopher Andrey Ignatiev a few years ago finished his article on this issue as follows:

“....The elimination of one of the most important post-revolutionary shrines requires the greatest possible care: it is certainly impossible to leave the necropolis in the capital's Red Square in its current form, its preservation will always be a source of unnecessary and even dangerous political illusions, but it is also impossible to liquidate it either without thus giving rise to some new, much more radical cult practice. That is why the structure, now known as "Lenin's Mausoleum", should be preserved, but in the context of a completely different "civic cult", and the corresponding initiative would be best taken by the Russian Orthodox Church, which would provide the necessary legitimacy to the corresponding changes. "Secular" legislative acts, be it a resolution of the State Duma of the Russian Federation, a government decision or a presidential decree, are obviously insufficient here.