Mausoleum of V.I. Lenin

The mausoleum of V.I. Lenin on Red Square in Moscow (Arch.A.V. Shchusev) is the tomb of V.I. Lenin, one of the peaks of Soviet architecture. The first (temporary wooden) version of the Mausoleum was opened on January 27, 1924 near the Kremlin Senate Tower on Red Square. The first mausoleum was a truncated step pyramid, to which on both sides adjoined L-shaped extensions with stairs. Visitors went down the right staircase, walked around the sarcophagus on three sides and went out on the left staircase. Two months later, the temporary mausoleum was closed and construction of a new wooden mausoleum began, which lasted from March to August 1924. The new mausoleum was a large (height 9, length 18 meters) truncated step pyramid, the stairs were now included in the total volume of the building. For durability, the wooden parts were covered with oil varnish, as a result of which the structure had a strict light brown color. Tractions, doors and columns of the upper portico were made of black oak. Wooden sheathing was strengthened with forged nails with large curly hats. Five years later, construction of the final stone version of the Mausoleum began (July 1929 - October 1930). The stone mausoleum in plan almost repeats the wooden one. The visitor enters through the main entrance and descends on the left staircase three meters wide (walls lined with labradorite) into the mourning hall. The hall is made in the form of a cube (length of the face 10 meters) with a stepped ceiling. Along the perimeter of the hall there is a wide black strip of Labradorite, on which red porphyry pilasters are put. To the right of the pilasters are stripes of black polished Labradorite. Between them pass zigzag tapes of bright red smalt. Visitors walk around the sarcophagus from three sides along a low podium, leave the mourning hall, climb the right stairs and exit the mausoleum through a door in the right wall. Structurally, the building is made on the basis of reinforced concrete frame with brick filling of walls, which are lined with polished stone - marble, labradorite, porphyry, granite. The length of the mausoleum on the facade is 24, the height is 12 meters. The upper portico is shifted to the Kremlin wall (in the wooden mausoleum it was shifted to the facade). The pyramid of the Mausoleum consists of five different high ledges (there were six in the wooden mausoleum). On the first ledge in 1945, a tribune was arranged. Currently, the Mausoleum is open for access every Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday from 10 to 13 hours.