A photographic guide to the world’s embalmed leaders

Washington Post ^ | 3/8/13 | Caitlin Dewey

[jimbo123]

When Hugo Chavez’s embalmed body is laid in a glass casket sometime next week, he will join at least eight other world leaders whose remains are on display for all eternity … or at least for as long as their keepers can preserve them.

Vice President Nicolas Maduro announced Thursday that Chavez’s body would be on permanent display at the Museum of the Revolution so that “his people will always have them.” While that idea may sound grotesque, it’s also not particularly novel.

The Russians, arguably the ones who perfected the practice, have put both Vladimir Lenin and Joseph Stalin on long-term display. Lenin’s body has been embalmed in a large tomb near the Kremlin since shortly after his death in 1924, preserved by a steady 61 degree temperature and a strict regimen of mild bleachings and soaks in glycerol and potassium acetate.

[clearcarbon]

"This one got left off the list somehow..."

Some were left off the list because they still project the illusion of working.

[Category Four]

Eyes, hair, face, image
All must be preserved
Still life displayed forever
No less than [he] deserved ...

Sound familiar? And yes, I no longer doubt that the Empty Suit may get this one day as well.