From the outside, the mausoleum still looks impeccable, its brown marble and granite façade polished to a gleaming shine. But today Vladimir Lenin's tomb is a site of only passing interest, and the gleam from its walls reflects the lights of the shops across Red Square: Louis Vuitton, Kenzo, Chanel. "The only Muscovites who come here are showing a visitor around," says a policeman on duty near the tomb. "Always out-of-towners. You can tell from their clothes--like ours from about 15 years ago." The officer hasn't been inside to see Lenin's embalmed body since 1998. "I had just finished military service...
Letter From Moscow: A New Home for a (Very) Old Comrade?
After 81 years, Russians ponder whether the time has finally come to bury Lenin
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