whats behind the display of embalmed world leaders

edition.cnn.com

What's behind the display of

embalmed world leaders?

by LAURA SMITH-SPARK, CNN • MARCH 8, 2013

(CNN) -- The body of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez will rest in a

glass case on public display. Forever.

At least, so said his deputy, Nicolas Maduro.

While the idea may seem alien to some, Chavez will be the latest in a

line of leaders whose remains have been embalmed and put on show

in a glass casket.

Perhaps the best known is Russia's Vladimir Lenin, whose body still

lies in a mausoleum in Moscow's Red Square, nearly 90 years after his

death.

Others include Stalin, China's Mao Zedong, Vietnam's Ho Chi Minh,

and North Korea's founding leader, Kim Il Sung.

U.S. President Abraham Lincoln was also embalmed following his

assassination in 1865, enabling his body to be taken on its winding,

three-week train journey back to Springfield, Illinois, with open-casket

memorial services along the way.

For Nina Tumarkin, author of "Lenin Lives! The Lenin Cult in Soviet

Russia," the decision to embalm Lenin in 1924 -- the first modern

leader to have his corpse preserved in this way -- was a reflection of a

tumultuous period in early Soviet history.

Chavez's impact lauded at funeral

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"Many people feared that the regime could not survive his death, so

after the announcement was made, Moscow became something of an

armed camp," said Tumarkin, a professor of Russian history at

Wellesley College, Massachusetts.

The leaders were unsure whether to hold a lying-in-state period, for

fear that the people would not come, she said. As it turned out, some

750,000 braved the bitter January cold, standing in line for long hours

to catch a glimpse of the corpse.

As a result, the leaders decided to make it a "going concern," she said,

extending the period first to 40 days, the period in the Russian

Orthodox tradition when Mass is said daily for the dead, and then

installing his glass sarcophagus. They first placed it in a wooden

mausoleum before building the stone one that stands today.

Nine decades later and half a world away, crowds of Venezuelans

similarly lined up to see Chavez's body as it lay in state at a military

academy before the funeral Friday.

So many came to see the body that the viewing was extended for

another seven days.

Giving details of his funeral, Maduro said Chavez would be embalmed

"just like Lenin (and) Mao Zedong" and laid to rest at a military

museum where generations of Venezuelans will be able to visit a man

who for many was larger-than-life.

Polarizing move

In Lenin's case, the decision was -- and is still -- controversial.

Even at the time of the communist leader's death, many Russians were

outraged by the idea of embalming him, Tumarkin said. Many more

today would like to see the body buried.

But the polarizing move came against the backdrop of the discovery 15


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months earlier of the Egyptian pharaoh Tutankhamen's tomb. "It took

the imagination of the world by storm," Tumarkin said, and it sowed

the idea that the body of a leader could be preserved for thousands of

years to come.

It also tapped into a Russian Orthodox belief that the body of a true

saint does not decay, she said.

"Most important from a political point of view, the leaders who

followed Lenin at the time, or who would be competing for the mantle

of general secretary of the party, were men who were really terrified

that the whole system was going to come falling down," she said.

That fear had already prompted them to begin the process of "making

Lenin eternal" through his writings and portraits. With his extended

lying in state, the Russian people also had a kind of shrine to visit,

Tumarkin said, again channeling the religious tradition.

When Lenin's body was put on display, the embalmers compared their

work to that of the ancient Egyptians -- who actually had used very

different methods -- and the message sent out to the rest of the world

was that this should be seen as a demonstration of superior Soviet

science, she said.

At the same time, Lenin's symbolic presence lent the next generation

of leaders an extra legitimacy, she said.

And as the cult of Lenin swelled in the 1920s and 1930s, and was

revived under Khrushchev in the 1970s, his body could still be viewed,

Tumarkin noted. Other Communist leaders, such as Mao, followed his

lead in later decades.

Civil War practice

In some countries, for example the Philippines and the United States,

embalming ahead of open-casket funerals is now quite common.


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But the process is still regarded with suspicion or revulsion by many,

perhaps linked to a wider discomfort with the idea of death.

According to the American Society of Embalmers, modern-day

embalming took off in the United States during the Civil War, when

families would travel to the battlefields to find their dead sons or

brothers.

"The Union Army had 'Embalming Surgeons' in the battlefield that

would prepare the remains, place them in a coffin and send back to the

family by train or horse and buggy," the society's website says.

So what's involved in the embalming process today?

First, the body fluids must be drained and replaced with a

formaldehyde-based product, said Richard Arnold, managing director

of the Embalmer Training School in Britain and a qualified embalmer

for 20 years.

The formaldehyde-based fluid plasticizes the proteins within the body

and fights against the bacteria that otherwise would lead to its

decomposition, he said.

In cases where the body is expected to remain embalmed for a long

period -- rather than for a few weeks or months, as can happen if a

funeral is delayed -- the concentration of formaldehyde will be

increased. Other chemicals, such as lanolin, can be added to the mix to

improve the color and texture of the skin, help break down blood clots

or lessen discoloration.

Then comes the process of making the deceased look as realistic and,

for the sake of the family, as peaceful as possible, Arnold said. "We do

everything from reconstructive surgery to cosmetics and hairdressing."

The cosmetics used in embalming have higher levels of pigment and

silicone, he explained, so that when the body is moved in and out of

cold storage the cosmetics will expand and contract with the tissue


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beneath without cracking.

Each embalmer works with individual artistry, he said, with many

around the world creating their own mixes of chemicals to achieve the

best results in local conditions.

This could be important in Venezuela, where the weather is tropical

and power supplies sometimes erratic.

And if a body is going to be displayed for a long time, it's crucial to get

it right.

The body of Klement Gottwald, president of then-Czechoslovakia, was

embalmed and placed in a mausoleum for display by Communist Party

leaders in 1953. But it was taken off display several years later, in part

because, it is said, it had begun to decompose.

World leaders aside, Arnold believes embalming is an overlooked and

undervalued art that helps regular people if someone dies far from

home or must be laid to rest after a delay.

Particularly for families who've lost a relative in sudden or tragic

circumstances, it's important to see the loved one looking their best at

the last, he adds.

"I've always enjoyed the job," he said. "It's the last thing you can ever

do for anybody."

'Magic has gone'

But even with the best of skill, an embalmed body will eventually start

to look more waxy or plasticky -- as has been remarked of Lenin's face

during his long repose.

It reportedly is under a high-maintenance regime that involves the

frequent reapplication of embalming fluids.

Despite this, Lenin is no longer looking as good as he used to, said


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Tumarkin, who has viewed him several times over the decades in the

gloom of his 1920s-style mausoleum, decorated in red, black and

white.

It used to make an impression in the Soviet period, when the long lines

of visitors leading up to the sarcophagus created a sense of reverence

akin to that of a pilgrimage, she said.

But on more recent visits, Tumarkin found much has changed.

"You don't have that any more. You don't have the lines (of people) any

more. You just wander in and it's like being in a wax museum -- the

magic has long since gone."

It's perhaps a word of warning that Venezuela's leaders should heed as

they plan for eternity.

Original URL:http://edition.cnn.com/2013/03/08/world/americas/venezuela-chavez-embalming/index.html?hpt=hp_c1


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whats behind the display of embalmed world leaders

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