Longest time for an embalmed world leader to be on public display in a mausoleum

The embalmed body of Vladimir Ilyich Lenin (b. Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov, 1870–1924), the “Father of the Russian Revolution” and First Leader of the Soviet Union, has been on public display in the Mavzoléy Lénina (Lenin's Tomb), in Red Square, Moscow, since six days after his death on 21 January 1924. Lenin's body was fully embalmed and entombed on 27 January 1924 and has remained on public display in Moscow ever since - with the exception of World War II, when in October 1941, with the Nazis fast approaching Moscow, Lenin’s body was removed and transported to Siberia for the duration of the war. In a matter of days after Lenin’s death, a wooden tomb was constructed to provide the embalmed leader with a new home. In 1930, the body was moved to a permanent stone tomb, with a new sarcophagus for the Communist leader provided in 1973 - several millennia after the Egyptians preserved their Pharoahs in sarcophagi. Despite rumours over the years that the corpse is actually wax, the body (or what's left of it) is real. Lenin’s features must be moisturized every day and preservatives have to be injected beneath his clothes, and the temperature and humidity have to be just right - 16°C (61°F). The chemicals used to keep Lenin in proper form are glycerine and potassium acetate, but far more is required to give the former Soviet leader further longevity as he is fully bathed, if not regularly, at 18 month intervals. The public is invited to visit Lenin, although the hours are somewhat restricted - only three hours a day excluding Mondays, Fridays and all holidays. And there are strict rules of behaviour befitting such a grand memorial - no talking, photography or videotaping, and guests are required to maintain complete decorum at all times. More than 10 million people reportedly visited the tomb from 1924 to 1972 alone. Lenin was a trendsetter, not only in launching the first Communist Revolution to gain power, but in inspiring other Communist countries to consecrate their leaders in similar fashion. Mao Zedong, the leader of the Chinese Revolution, is embalmed and has been on public display in the Mao Mausoleum in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square since 1977, the year after his death. Vietnam’s Communist leader and revolutionary, Ho Chi Minh, has been similarly treated and displayed in Hanoi since 1975, although he died in 1969. North Korea’s first Communist Leader, Kim Il-Sung, followed suit after his death in 1994 when his embalmed body was placed in Kumsusan Palace of the Sun in the capital city of Pyongyang. Plans are now afoot for his son and successor, Kim Jong-Il, who died in 17 December 2011, to join him, in his own embalmed state.