The Lenin Mausoleum, which stands just outside the Kremlin, contains the preserved remains of Vladimir Ilich Lenin, the founder and first leader of the Soviet Union. Lenin's body is displayed inside a glass coffin at the center of the mausoleum's vault. The temperature inside the vault remains at a constant 16° C (61° F) to protect the body from naturally decaying.

Lenin died in 1924, only a few years after the Bolsheviks came to power under his leadership in 1917. The mausoleum, which was built originally in 1924 and then rebuilt in 1930, was treated with great reverence during the Soviet era. Since the 1991 breakup of the Soviet Union, however, some Russians have called for Lenin's body to be removed from display and buried.

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