Tall candles in front of the tombs on Catholic and Voodoo holidays
are a reminder to the dead that they have a few living relatives that
still care. Or a Voodoo ritual to the Ghede's is in the making.
St. Louis Cemetery No. 1
Haunted New Orleans, Louisiana- Considered by locals visitors and
paranormal investigators world wide as actually the most haunted Cemetery
in the world, and No. # 1 haunted Cemetery in all the United States.
This New Orleans Haunted graveyard is said to be haunted by the ghost
of the world famous Voodoo Queen of New Orleans, Marie Laveau II .
Her spirit has been reported inside of the cemetery, walking between
the tombs wearing a turban, and mumbling a New Orleans Santeria Voodoo
curse to trespassers. Her Voodoo curse is loud and even heard by passerby's
on nearby Rampart Street. Locals say this has started in recent years
for she is alarmed by the many vandals and state of the cemetery.
Voudon Believers and Tourist and locals still come to her tomb every
day and leave many, many Voodoo offerings (candles, flowers, the monkey
and the cock statue, Mardi Gras beads, Gris Gris bags, Voodoo dolls
and food in hopes of being blessed by her supernatural powers from
beyond the grave . Many make a wish at her tomb marking three X's.
while others say they have her Ghost on film emerging undead from
her tomb. They say her soul appears here as a shiny black Voodoo cat
with red eyes. If you see it run! They say Marie Laveau II is the
gaurdian to the Gates to the otherworld which are often said to be
part of a large mauselum.
Secret Voodoo Cemetery Gates Of Guinee
One old tradition still observed in New Orleans today was to search
for Secret Voodoo Cemetery Gates Of Guinee, The Mysterious Portal
To The Afterworld. Bringing something as an offering, (a piece of
King Cake, Mardi Gras Beads etc.). The dead love sweets and gifts,
and even more so they love King Cake in New Orleans. In Voodoo, the
soul continues to live on earth and may be used in magic or it may
be incarnated in a member of the dead person's family. This belief
is similar to Catholicism in that the soul is believed to be immortal.
Elaborate burial customs have been established to keep the dead buried
in the ground. It is believed that corpses, or a persons spirit bottle*
that have been removed from their tombs may be turned into zombies,
who then serve the will of their masters.
The exact location of the haunted cemetery gates isn't really ever
told to outsiders of the Secret Societies. New Orleans Tour Guides
and Haunted Cemetery or ghost tours will skirt around the issue, or
just look at you like they don't know what your talking about, so
never mention it (seriously). They say just to talk about the accursed
cemetery gates spells doom to those that ask or search for it or speak
of it openly to anyone.
Many believe that the gates to the other world or portal is actually
a large white mauselum. Once upon entering it you will be forever
trapped in the unholy world of the voodoo spirits andd the dead. Those
who know ... feel it is inviting them , "The Ghede" to take
you away. Only someone pure of heart with only one burning question
to be answered by the dead is ever told the whole truth. If you are
so unlucky to cross the threshold of these gates legend tells, then
you are taken alive to the otherworld forever trapped but you do not
die you become imortal. You then become one of the truly undead! Many
say this is what happened to Marie Laveau I, Sanite Dede, Dr. John
and many notable Voodoo leaders that just simply dissapeared off of
the face of the earth. (They passed unseen to the other side whole
in body and mind to live imortal.)
A unnamed New Orleans Voodoo priestess says quite bluntly, search
and you shall find them rusted shut, or worse they will certainly
find you and be wide and opened. Its primary goal is to both enlighten
and bridge the worlds of the dead and the living, considered the most
sacred and the profane. The gates she says are sometines those to
a large Mauseleum that you enter. Inside you will see stairs leading
up and down. No one who has gone and further then that has ever come
back to tell what is above or below on the other side. Marie Laveau
the first is the only person who is said to be able to cross over
back and forth between the two world because she was so powerfull
a Voodoo Queen. But she is only allowed to be in our world on 5 or
6 days of the year. Those days being -- Christmas Day, New Year's
Day, Fat Tuesday, Carnival or New Orleans Mardi Gras day, All Saints'
Day, or All Souls' Day, St. Johns Eve and her birthday.
"Real Voodoo Imortality has it's price." " You never
die but you are no longer in the world of the living." Says Reese
Smith. "To find the voodoo gates for etenal life one needs only
to listen." "Inside or behind the gates there can be heard
a strange sound, the rhythmic deep beat drums beckoning you to come
to the threshold of a large old mauseleum."
Well known psychic
Willian Reese Smith Knocks on a Mausoleum door. Could be this is
the Secret Voodoo Cemetery Gates Of Guinee? Smith believes that
the gates to the otherside are in no one set location and may shift
from cemetery to cemetery.
Also
see: Voodoo Cemetery Gates Of Guinee
Notable Mausolea
The Mastaba - A mastaba was a flat-roofed,
rectangular building with outward sloping sides that marked the burial
site of many eminent Egyptians of Egypt's ancient period. Mastabas
were constructed out of mud-bricks or stone.
The word Mastaba comes from the Arabic word for bench, because when
seen from a distance it looks like a bench. Inside the mastaba, a
deep chamber was dug into the ground and lined with stone or bricks.
The body would be placed in this deep, sealed chamber. Because the
remains were not in contact with the dry desert sand, natural mummification
of the remains could not take place. In order to preserve the remains,
the ancient Egyptian priests had to devise a system of artificial
mummification.
Structure of a mastabaThe mastaba structure was constructed directly
over the underground shaft holding the remains of the deceased. The
above ground structure was rectangular in shape, had sloping sides,
and was about four times as long as it was wide. This above ground
structure had space for a small offering chapel equipped with a false
door to which priests and family members brought food and other offerings
for the soul of the deceased.
The mastaba was the standard type of tomb in early Egypt (the predynastic
and early dynastic periods) for both the pharaoh and the social elite.
The ancient Egyptian city of Abydos was the location chosen for many
of these early mastabas.
When a mastaba was built for the burial of the Third Dynasty king
Djoser, the architect Imhotep enlarged the basic structure to be a
square, then built a similar, but smaller, mastaba-like square on
top of this, and added a fourth, fifth, and sixth square structure
above that. The resulting building is the Step Pyramid, the first
of the many pyramid tombs which succeeded it. Thus the mastaba is
the first step towards the more famous Pyramids.
The Mausoleum of Khomeini in Tehran, Iran -
The Mausoleum of Ayatollah Khomeini houses the tomb of Ruhollah Musawi
Khomeini. It is located to the south of Tehran in the Behesht-e Zahra
(the Paradise of Zahra) cemetery. Construction commenced in 1989 following
Khomeini's death on June 3, 1989. It is still under construction,
but when completed will be the centerpiece in a complex spread over
5,000 acres (2,000 ha), housing a cultural and tourist center, a university
for Islamic studies, a seminary, a shopping mall, and a 20,000-car
parking lot. The Iranian government has reportedly devoted US$2 billion
to this development. The site is a place of pilgrimage for followers
of Khomeini. It is used symbolically by government figures, and is
on occasion visited by foreign dignitaries. Khomeini's grandson Hassan
Khomeini is in charge of caring for the mausoleum.
The architect of the tomb was Mohammed Tehrani.
The exterior of the shrine complex is a highly recognizable landmark.
It has a gold dome sitting on a high drum, surrounded by four free-standing
minarets. The shrine is surrounded by a large rectangular plaza which
has been designed to hold vast numbers of visitors. With its size,
inclusion of a qibla wall and a maqsura, the tomb resembles a mosque.
Inside, Khomeini's sarcophagus is centrally placed under the gilded
dome. The dome sits above a transition zone with two layers of clerestories,
decorated with stained glass depicting tulips (an Iranian symbol of
martyrdom). The dome is supported by eight large marble columns that
circle the sarcophagus, that together with other smaller columns support
the space frame ceiling. The ceiling is also punctuated by clerestories.
The floor and wall surfaces are made of polished white marble. The
floor is covered with fine carpets.
Non-Muslims are allowed inside the complex.
The pyramids of ancient Egypt, Nubia and China are
also types of mausolea. - A pyramid is said to be regular if
its base is a regular polygon and its upper faces are congruent isosceles
triangles.
Cutting off the top of a pyramid, using a plane parallel to the plane
of the base, leaves a frustum of a pyramid, sometimes called a flat-topped
pyramid, though it no longer satisfies the definition of a pyramid.
The most famous pyramids are the Egyptian pyramids — huge structures
built of brick or stone, some of which are among the largest man-made
constructions. Most of them took about 27 years to build. In Ancient
Egyptian, a pyramid was referred to as mer, which was also their word
for the country of Egypt itself, showing how intrinsic the structures
were to the culture.[1] The Great Pyramid of Giza is the largest in
Egypt and one of the largest in the world. Until Lincoln Cathedral
was built in 1300 A.D., it was the tallest building in the world.
The base is over 52,600 square meters in area.
It is one of the Seven Wonders of the World, and the only one of
the seven to survive into modern times. The Ancient Egyptians capped
the peaks of their pyramids with gold and covered their faces with
polished white limestone, though many of the stones used for the purpose
have fallen or been removed for other structures.
There are many flat-topped mound tombs in China. The First Emperor
of Qin (circa 221 B.C.) was buried under a large mound outside modern
day Xi'an. In the following centuries about a dozen more Han Dynasty
royals were also buried under flat-topped pyramidal earthworks. The
so-called pyramids of China are actually ancient mounds, most of which
if not all were used for burial. Many of them are located within 100
kilometers of the city of Xi'an, on the Qin Chuan Plains in the Shaanxi
Province, central China. Although known in the West for at least a
century, their existence has been made controversial by sensationalist
publicity and the problems of Chinese archaeology under some regimes.
There is a Roman era pyramid built in Falicon, France. There were
many more pyramids built in France in this period. There are several
structures in Greece that archaeologists have called pyramids. Many
giant granite temple pyramids were made in South India during the
Chola Empire, many of which are still in religious use today. Examples
of such pyramid temples include Brihadisvara Temple at Thanjavur,
the Temple of Gangaikondacholisvaram and the Airavatesvara Temple
at Darasuram. However the largest temple pyramid in the area is Sri
Rangam in Srirangam, Tamil Nadu. The Brihadisvara Temple was declared
by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site in 1987; the Temple of Gangaikondacholisvaram
and the Airavatesvara Temple at Darasuram were added as extensions
to the site in 2004.
A number of Mesoamerican cultures also built pyramid-shaped structures.
Mesoamerican pyramids were usually stepped, with temples on top, more
similar to the Mesopotamian ziggurat than the Egyptian pyramid. The
largest pyramid by volume is the Great Pyramid of Cholula, in the
Mexican state of Puebla. This pyramid is considered the largest monument
ever constructed anywhere in the world, and is still being excavated.
There is an unusual pyramid with a circular plan at the site of Cuicuilco,
now inside Mexico City and mostly covered with lava from an ancient
eruption of Xictli. Pyramids in Mexico were often used as places of
human sacrifice.
Many mound-building societies of ancient North America built large
pyramidal earth structures known as platform mounds. Among the largest
and best-known of these structures is Monk's Mound at the site of
Cahokia, which has a base larger than that of the Great Pyramid at
Giza. While the North American mounds' precise function is not known,
they are believed to have played a central role in the mound-building
people's religious life.
Nubian pyramids (Sudan)
Nubian pyramids were constructed (roughly 220 of them) at three sites
in Nubia to serve as tombs for the kings and queens of Napata and
Meroë.
The Nubians built more pyramids than the Egyptians, but they are
smaller. The Nubian pyramids were constructed at a steeper angle than
Egyptian ones and were monuments to dead kings and queens.[4]
Pyramids were still being built in Nubia up to AD 300.
Mausoleum of Maussollos at Halicarnassas - The
Tomb of Maussollos, Mausoleum of Maussollos or Mausoleum at Halicarnassus
(i was a tomb built between 353 and 350 BC at Halicarnassus (present
Bodrum, Turkey) for Mausolus, a satrap in the Persian Empire, and
Artemisia II of Caria, his wife and sister.
The structure was designed by the Greek architects Satyrus and Pythius.
It stood approximately 45 meters (135 feet) in height, and each of
the four sides was adorned with sculptural reliefs created by each
one of four Greek sculptors — Leochares, Bryaxis, Scopas of
Paros and Timotheus. The finished structure was considered to be such
an aesthetic triumph that Antipater of Sidon identified it as one
of his Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.
The word mausoleum has since come to be used generically for any
grand tomb, though "Mausol – eion" originally meant
"[building] dedicated to Mausolus".
Mausoleum of Galla Placidia - The Mausoleum
of Galla Placidia is a highly important Roman mausoleum in Ravenna,
Italy. It is one of the eight structures in Ravenna that were inscribed
on the World Heritage List in 1996. As the UNESCO experts reasoned,
"it is the earliest and best preserved of all mosaic monuments,
and at the same time one of the most artistically perfect".
Built in 425-430 AD, the structure is designed in the shape of a
Greek cross, and has a cupola that is entirely in mosaics, representing
eight apostles and symbolical figures of doves drinking from a vessel.
The other four apostles are represented on the vaults of the transverse
arm; over the door is a representation of Jesus Christ as the Good
Shepherd, young, beardless, with flowing hair, and surrounded by sheep;
opposite, there is a subject that is interpreted as representing Saint
Lawrence. Thin, translucent panels of stone admit light into the structure
through the windows.
The building (formerly the oratory of a wider church of the Holy
Cross) contains three sarcophagi; the largest is said to have been
that of Galla Placidia, and that her embalmed body was deposited there
in a sitting position, clothed with the imperial mantle; in 1577,
however, the contents of the sarcophagus were accidentally burned.
The sarcophagus to the right is attributed to Emperor Valentinian
III or to Galla Placidia's brother, Emperor Honorius. The one on the
left is attributed to Galla Placidia's husband, Emperor Constantius
III.
Taj Mahal at Agra, India - The Taj Mahal is
a mausoleum located in Agra, India, that was built under Mughal Emperor
Shah Jahan in memory of his favorite wife, Mumtaz Mahal.
The Taj Mahal (also "the Taj") is considered the finest
example of Mughal architecture, a style that combines elements from
Persian, Turkish, Indian, and Islamic architectural styles. In 1983,
the Taj Mahal became a UNESCO World Heritage Site and was cited as
"the jewel of Muslim art in India and one of the universally
admired masterpieces of the world's heritage."
While the white domed marble and tile mausoleum is most familiar,
Taj Mahal is an integrated symmetric complex of structures that was
completed around 1648. Ustad Ahmad Lahauri is generally considered
as the principal designer of Taj Mahal
Anitkabir mausoleum of Ataturk the founder of the Republic of Turkey
at Ankara, Turkey - Anitkabir (literally, "memorial tomb")
is the mausoleum of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the leader of Turkish
War of Independence and the founder and first president of the Republic
of Turkey. It is located in Ankara and was designed by architects
Professor Emin Onat and Assistant Professor Orhan Arda, who won the
competition held by the Turkish Government in 1941 for a "monumental
mausoleum" for Atatürk out of a total of 49 international
proposals.
The site is also the final resting place of Ismet Inönü,
the second President of Turkey, who was interred there after he died
in 1973. His tomb faces the Atatürk Mausoleum, on the opposite
side of the Ceremonial Ground.
Tomb of Jahangir - Tomb of Jahangir, is the
mausoleum built for the Mughal Emperor Jahangir who ruled from 1605
to 1627. The mausoleum is located near the town of Shahdara in Lahore,
Pakistan. His son Shah Jahan built the mausoleum 10 years after his
father's death. It is sited in an attractive walled garden. It has
four 30 meter high minarets. The interior is embellished with frescoes
and pietra dura inlay and colored marble. The mausoleum features prominently
on the Pakistan Rupees 1,000 denomination bank note.
Mazar-e-Quaid at Karachi, Pakistan - Mazar-e-Quaid or the National
Mausoleum refers to the tomb of the founder of Pakistan, Muhammad
Ali Jinnah. It is an iconic symbol of Karachi throughout the world.
The mausoleum, completed in the 1960s, is situated at the heart of
the city. The mausoleum is made of white marble with curved Moorish
arches and copper grills rest on an elevated 54 metre square platform.
The cool inner sanctum reflects the green of a four-tiered crystal
chandelier gifted by the people of China. Around the mausoleum there
is a park fitted with strong beamed spot-lights which at night project
light on the white mausoleum. The location is usually calm and tranquil
which is significant considering that it is in the heart of one of
the largest global megalopolises. The glowing tomb can be seen for
miles at night. Liaqat Ali Khan, the first Prime Minister of Pakistan,
and Jinnah's sister, Mohtarma Fatima Jinnah, are also buried besides
Jinnah.
Royal Mausoleum and the Duchess of Kent's Mausoleum
at Frogmore, England - The second mausoleum in the grounds
of Frogmore, just a short distance from the Duchess of Kent's Mausoleum
is the very much larger Royal Mausoleum, the burial place of Queen
Victoria and her consort, Prince Albert. This beautiful mausoleum
within the Frogmore Gardens is the burial place of Queen Victoria's
mother, Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, the Duchess of Kent. The
Mausoleum was designed by the architect A J Humbert, to a concept
design by Prince Albert's favourite artist, Professor Ludwig Gruner.
In the latter years of her life, the Duchess lived in Frogmore House
and in the 1850s, construction began on a beautiful domed 'temple'
in the grounds of the estate. The top portion of the finished building
was intended to serve as a summer-house for the Duchess during her
lifetime, while the lower level was destined as her final resting
place. The Duchess died at Frogmore House on 16 March 1861 before
the summer-house was completed so the upper chamber became part of
the mausoleum and now contains a statue of the Duchess.
Queen Victoria and her husband had long intended to construct a special
resting place for them both, instead of the two of them being buried
in one of the traditional resting places of British Royalty, such
as Westminster Abbey or St. George's Chapel, Windsor. The mausoleum
for the Queen's mother was being constructed at Frogmore in 1861 when
Prince Albert died in December of the same year. Within a few days
of his premature death, proposals for the mausoleum were being drawn
up by the same designers involved in the Duchess of Kent's Mausoleum:
Professor Gruner and A J Humbert.
Work commenced in March 1862. The dome was made by October and the
building was consecrated in December 1862, although the decoration
was not finished until August, 1871.
The building is in the form of a Greek cross. The exterior was inspired
by Italian Romanesque buildings, the walls are of granite and Portland
stone and the roof is covered with Australian copper. The interior
decoration is in the style of Albert's favourite painter, the Renaissance
genius Raphael, an example of Victoriana at its most opulent. The
interior walls are predominantly in Portuguese red marble, a gift
from the King Luis of Portugal, a cousin of both Victoria and Albert,
and are inlaid with other marbles from around the World.
The monumental tomb itself was designed by Baron Carlo Marochetti.
It features recumbent marble effigies of the Queen and Prince Albert.
The sarcophagus was made from a single piece of flawless grey Aberdeen
granite. The Queen's effigy was made at the same time, but was not
put in the mausoleum until after her funeral.
Only Victoria and Albert are interred there, but the mausoleum contains
other memorials. Among those is a charming monument to Princess Alice,
Grand Duchess of Hesse-Darmstadt (1843-1878), Victoria's second daughter,
who died of diphtheria shortly after her youngest daughter May (1874-1878).
In the centre of the chapel is a monument to Edward, Duke of Kent,
Victoria's father. He died in 1820 and is buried in St George's Chapel,
Windsor. One of the strangest sculptures is that of the Queen and
consort in Anglo-Saxon costume. Albert is speaking. Victoria looks
up at him in adoration.
Grant's Tomb, New York City - a reduced-scale
version of Mausolos' original mausoleum. - General Grant National
Memorial (as designated by the U.S. National Park Service), better
known as Grant's Tomb, is a mausoleum containing the bodies of Ulysses
S. Grant (1822–1885), an American Civil War General and the
18th President of the United States, and his wife, Julia Dent Grant
(1826–1902). The tomb complex is a United States Presidential
Memorial in the Morningside Heights neighborhood of Manhattan in New
York City. The structure is situated in a prominent location in Riverside
Park overlooking the Hudson River.
Designed by architect John Duncan, the granite and marble structure
was completed in 1897. The National Park Service maintains that it
is the largest mausoleum in North America. Duncan took as his general
model the eponymous structure, the tomb of Mausolus at Halicarnassus,
one of the seven wonders of the world; or rather one of the various
modern reconstructions of it, since it is not known what it looked
like.
A huge public subscription paid for it. Over a million people attended
Grant's funeral parade in 1885. It was seven miles (11 km) long and
featured Confederate and Union generals riding together in open victorias,
U.S. President Grover Cleveland, his cabinet, all the Justices of
the Supreme Court, and virtually the entire Congress. The parade for
the dedication ceremony of the tomb, held April 27, 1897, the 75th
anniversary of Grant's birth, was almost as large and was headed by
President William McKinley. New York City was chosen as the burial
site so that Mrs. Grant could visit frequently, and because Grant
was grateful to New Yorkers for their outpouring of affection during
his later years.
Hamilton Mausoleum at Hamilton in Scotland - Hamilton Mausoleum is
located in Hamilton, South Lanarkshire, Scotland, UK. It is the resting
place of the family of the Dukes of Hamilton. Built in the grounds
of demolished Hamilton Palace, its high stone vault reputedly gives
this building the longest lasting echo of any man-made structure in
the world.
Tours of the Mausoleum can be arranged through Hamilton Low Parks
Museum
Abraham Lincoln's tomb in Springfield, Illinois
- Lincoln's Tomb in Oak Ridge Cemetery, Springfield, Illinois, is
the final resting place of 16th President of the United States Abraham
Lincoln, his wife, Mary Todd Lincoln, and three of their four sons.
The monument is owned and administered by the State of Illinois as
Lincoln Tomb State Historic Site.
On April 15, 1865, the day President Lincoln died, a group of Springfield
citizens formed the National Lincoln Monument Association and spearheaded
a drive for funds to construct a memorial or tomb. Upon arrival of
the corpse on May 3, it lay in state in the Illinois State Capitol
for one night. After the funeral the next day, his coffin was placed
in a receiving vault at Oak Ridge Cemetery, the site Mrs. Lincoln
requested for burial. In December her husband's remains were removed
to a temporary vault not far from the proposed memorial site. The
location of the temporary vault is today marked with a small granite
marker on the hill behind the current tomb. In 1871, or 3 years after
laborers had begun constructing the tomb, the body of Lincoln and
those of the three youngest of his sons were placed in crypts in the
unfinished structure.
In 1874, upon completion of the memorial, Lincoln's remains were
interred in a marble sarcophagus in the center of a chamber known
as the "catacombs," or burial room. In 1876, however, after
two Chicago criminals failed in an attempt to steal Lincoln's body
and hold it for ransom, the National Lincoln Monument Association
hid it in another part of the memorial. When Mrs. Lincoln died in
1882, her remains were placed with those of Lincoln, but in 1887 both
bodies were reburied in a brick vault beneath the floor of the burial
room.
By 1895, the year the State acquired the memorial, it had fallen
into disrepair. During a rebuilding and restoration program in 1899-1901,
all five caskets were moved to a nearby subterranean vault. In the
latter year, State officials returned them to the burial room and
placed that of Lincoln in the sarcophagus it had occupied in 1874-1876.
Within a few months, however, at the request of Robert Todd Lincoln,
the President's only surviving son, the body was moved to its final
resting place, a cement vault 10 feet below the surface of the burial
room. In 1930-1931 the State reconstructed the interior of the memorial.
Rededicated in the latter year by President Hoover, it has undergone
little change since that time.
The tomb is in the center of a 12 1/2 acre (51,000 m²) plot.
Constructed of Massachusetts granite, it has a rectangular base surmounted
by a 117-foot-high obelisk and a semicircular entrance way. A bronze
reproduction of sculptor Gutzon Borglum's head of Lincoln in the U.S.
Capitol rests on a pedestal in front of the entrance way. Four flights
of balustraded stairs—two flanking the entrance at the front
and two at the rear—lead to a level terrace. The balustrade
extends around the terrace to form a parapet.
In the center of the terrace, a large and ornate base supports the
obelisk. On the walls of the base are 37 ashlars, or hewn stones,
cut to represent raised shields, each engraved with the name of a
State at the time the tomb was built. Each shield is connected to
another by two raised bands, and thus the group forms an unbroken
chain encircling the base. Four bronze statues adorn the corners of
the latter. They represent the infantry, navy, artillery, and cavalry
of the Civil War period. In front of the obelisk and above the entrance
stands a full-length statue of Lincoln.
Lenin's Mausoleum in Moscow, Russia. - Lenin's Mausoleum, Mavzoley
Lenina also known as Lenin's Tomb, situated in Red Square in Moscow,
is the mausoleum that serves as the current resting place of Vladimir
Lenin. His embalmed body has been on public display there since the
year he died in 1924 (with rare exceptions in wartime). Aleksey Shchusev's
diminutive but monumental granite structure incorporates some elements
from ancient mausoleums, such as the Step Pyramid and the Tomb of
Cyrus the Great.
This file is in the public domain, because Fragment from a public
domain movie on www.archive.org (http://www.archive.org/details/Communis1952)
On January 21, the day that Lenin died, the Soviet government received
more than 10,000 telegrams from all over Russia, which asked the government
to preserve his body somehow for future generations. On the morning
of January 23, Professor Alexei Ivanovich Abrikosov—a prominent
Russian pathologist and anatomist (not to be confused with physicist
Alexei Alexeyevich Abrikosov, his son)— embalmed Lenin's body
to keep it intact until the burial. On the night of January 23, architect
Aleksey Shchusev was given a task to complete within three days: design
and build a tomb to accommodate all those who wanted to say their
goodbyes to Lenin. On January 26, the decision was made to place the
tomb at the Red Square by the Kremlin Wall. By January 27, Shchusev
built a tomb out of wood and at 4 p.m. that day they placed Lenin's
coffin in it. More than 100,000 people visited the tomb within a month
and a half. By August of 1924, Shchusev upgraded the tomb to a bigger
version. The architect Konstantin Melnikov designed Lenin's sarcophagus.
In 1929, it was established that it would be possible to preserve
Lenin’s body for a much longer period of time. Therefore, it
was decided to exchange the wooden mausoleum with the one made of
stone (architects Aleksey Shchusev, I.A. Frantsuz, and G.K. Yakovlev).
They used marble, porphyry, granite, labradorite, and other construction
materials. In October 1930, the construction of the stone tomb was
finished. In 1973, sculptor Nikolai Tomsky designed a new sarcophagus.
On January 26, 1924 the Head of the Moscow Garrison issued an order
to place the Guard of Honour at the mausoleum. Russians call it the
"Number One Sentry". After the events of the Russian constitutional
crisis of 1993, the Guard of Honor was disbanded. In 1997 the "Number
One Sentry" was restored at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in
Alexander Garden.
More than 10 million people visited Lenin's tomb between 1924 and
1972.
Though supposedly "rejuvenated" annually by Russian undertakers,
Lenin's body currently gives off a waxed appearance, prompting many
to wonder if it is still real. Some parts might be fake, or partially
fake for the needs of presentability.[citation needed] Neither the
former Soviet government nor the current Russian authorities would
comment on the topic of the body's authenticity. The family of Lenin's
embalmers states that the corpse is real and requires daily work to
moisturize the features and inject preservatives under the clothes.
On a regular basis the corpse is removed from view to be undressed
and treated.
The body was removed in October 1941 and evacuated to Tyumen, in
Siberia, when it appeared that Moscow might be in imminent danger
of falling to invading Nazi troops. After the war, it was returned
and the tomb reopened.
Joseph Stalin's embalmed body shared a spot next to Vladimir Lenin,
from the time of his death in 1953 until October 31, 1961, when Stalin
was removed as part of de-Stalinization and Khrushchev's Thaw, and
buried outside the walls of the Kremlin.
Boris Yeltsin, with the support of the Russian Orthodox Church, intended
to close the tomb and bury Lenin, but did not achieve this while he
was in power.
The tomb is open every day except Mondays and Fridays from 10:00
to 13:00. There is normally a long line to see Lenin. No photos or
video are allowed.
The preservation and public display of Lenin's body provided the
inspiration for the Mausoleum of Mao Zedong, and a similar one for
Ho Chi Minh and Kim Il Sung, violating their wishes to be cremated.
Miles Mausoleum in Arlington National Cemetery -
The Miles Mausoleum is located in Section 3 of the Arlington National
Cemetery. Many members and descendants of the Miles Family (Lieutenant
General Nelson Appleton Miles) are buried in this mausoleum on a hill
in Section 3 of Arlington National Cemetery.
It is one of only two mausoleums located within the confines of the
Cemetery. The only other one belongs to the family of General Thomas
Crook Sullivan and it is located in Section 1.
Astana Giribangun Suharto family complex in
traditional Javanese architectural style in Karanganyar, Central Java
- Astana Giribangun, (also "Giri Bangun"), is a mausoleum
complex for the Suharto family of former President of the Republic
of Indonesia. It is located in Karang Bangun, Kecamatan Matesih, [[Kabupaten]](Regency)
Karanganyar, [[Jawa Tengah]] Central Java Province approximately 35
kilometres from the city of Solo. The archaic Javanese prose title
translates as "Palace of the Arisen mountain"
The building is in traditional Javanese architectural style and occupying
parts of the Mangkunegaran Royal Cemetery complex, it is approximately
300 metres from the burial sites of the Solonese royals Mangkunegara
I, II and III. Former Indonesian President Soeharto was buried in
Astana Giribangun following his death on the 28th of January 2008
with full State military honours, beside his late wife, Madame Tien
Soeharto (Siti Hartianah Suharto, who passed away earlier on April
28, 1996) and her late mother Mrs. Soehjarto.
The actual site was controversial at the time as many Javanese believed
Madame Suharto not to be of true noble blood, bt the decendent of
a faithful court servant (who was born a commoner). The Mangkunegaran
Court reconciled this controversy and decreed Suharto may indeed build
his Astana, but may not be built any higher than a pre-existing Royal
tomb. Astana Giri Mangadeg, where Astana Giribangun is sited, was
considered a powerful location by many dukun, spiritualists and soothsayers
for the strongly kejawen or kebatinan Suharto to meditate and derive
charisma or [[sakti]] (magicks).
Imogiri complex in Imogiri, Central Java is
the cemetery for Majapahit royals and the Hamengkubuwana Royals of
Yogyakarta - Imogiri (also Imagiri) is a royal graveyard complex in
Yogyakarta, south-central Java, Indonesia, as well as a modern village
located near the graveyard in Bantul regency. Imogiri is a traditional
resting place for the royalty of central Java, including many rulers
of the Sultanate of Mataram and of the current houses of Surakarta
and Yogyakarta.
The name Imagiri is derived from Sanskrit Himagiri, which means 'mountain
of snow'. The latter is another name for Himalaya.
Qianling Mausoleum in China, houses the remains of Emperor Gaozong
of Tang and the ruling Empress Wu Zetian, along with 17 others in
auxiliary tombs. - The Qianling Mausoleum is a Tang Dynasty (618–907)
tomb site located in Qian County, Shaanxi province, China, and is
85 km (53 miles) northwest from Xi'an, formerly the Tang capital.
Built by 684 (with additional construction until 706), the tombs of
the mausoleum complex houses the remains of various members of the
royal Li family. This includes Emperor Gaozong of Tang (r. 649–683),
as well as his wife, the Zhou Dynasty usurper and China's first (and
only) governing empress Wu Zetian (r. 690–705). The mausoleum
is renowned for its many Tang Dynasty stone statues located above
ground and the mural paintings adorning the subterranean walls of
the tombs. Besides the main tumulus mound and underground tomb of
Gaozong and Wu Zetian, there is a total of 17 smaller attendant tombs
or peizang mu Presently, only 5 of these attendant tombs have been
excavated by archaeologists, three belonging to members of the royal
family, one to a chancellor of China, and the other to a general of
the left guard.
Leading into the mausoleum is a spirit path, which is flanked on
both sides with stone statues like the later tombs of the Song Dynasty
and Ming Dynasty Tombs. The Qianling statues include horses, winged
horses, horses with grooms, lions, ostriches, officials, and foreign
envoys
