Visitors flock to Lenin’s tomb in Russia : NPR

Far postcards are a weekly series in which the international NPR team shares moments in their lives and works in the world.

The truth is that it has been years since I visited the mausoleum. But I will never forget the first time. 30 years ago. As a student in exchange. How my eyes had trouble adapting in darkness. And then … he was there.

Vladimir Lenin. The Russian revolutionary and founder of the Soviet Union. And since his death in 1924, a marvel of chemistry, kept in his crypt – under the glass, asleep in his costume – except the occasional removal for a re -assembly bath.

There were rules. No conversation. No photos. And no respect for the line. While I was trying to take the silent scene, a gruff guard reported that it was already time to move on.

In the Soviet era, thousands of people aligned themselves from all over the USSR to pay tribute. This reverence gave way to indifference while the Soviet Union collapsed in the early 1990s. There were much more interesting things – finally, certainly more alive – to see in the new Russia. There are still some.

But the news that the mausoleum soon closes for repairs – until 2027 – aroused an increase in renewed interest. The lines are back – less nostalgia for the Soviet Union, I suspect, that a last overview of a frozen man in time. Because who knows? There has been a question of burying Lenin for years.

And so I’m once again. Now average age. The sun beats. The guard indicates that it is our turn. A small group of us – soldiers, families, foreign tourists, me – cross the long march through the Red Square to the dark room. The tomb of Lenin. A place where the idea always exists that everything, and nothing, changes in our lives. At least for the moment.

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