Event: Russia - Moscow

Lenin's Mausoleum

When:	Daily; not Mon or Fri
Where:	Lenin's Mausoleum
Costs:	Free
Opening Hours:	Tue-Thu & Sat-Sun 10am-1pm

Lenin's Mausoleum, on Red Square, houses its famous corpse within a 1930s Constructivist masterpiece. Visitors include fewer die-hard Bolsheviks than tourists these days, but the whole place is a good reminder of how things used to be around here.

Following his death in 1924, the cult of Lenin grew to such a degree that every self-respecting Soviet citizen felt obliged to pay tribute to their dear-departed leader in his purpose-built mausoleum. Queues regularly snaked around the Kremlin buildings as the hushed crowds mused on the fate of their country and the legacy of their most revered revolutionary.

The impact of Lenin's demise would only be matched by Stalin's death in 1953, when he was placed on display beside his predecessor. Following the denunciations of his regime by Kruschchev, he was removed in 1961 to be reburied by the Kremlin wall.

Since then, Lenin has had a diminishing number of visitors to keep him company, as Soviet power decayed and tourists replaced the native faithful. Surly guards still herd guests past the shrivelled corpse, for a few seconds of spine-tingling nostalgia as the imposing granite edifice transforms itself into the eeriest haunted house in the world.

Having seen the man himself - decked out in a dark blue suit and polka-dot tie - you are ushered behind the monument for a quick peek at the gravestones of several Soviet luminaries and heads of state, including Stalin, Brezhnev, Andropov, and the first man in space, Yuri Gagarin, before returning to Red Square.